The Never Ending Summer
by Neko-Salosa
Summary: Netto meets up with Neo WWW and a dangerous new enemy that threaten him and Rockman. This is all par for the course for Netto right? Not when he has his five year old cousin along for the ride. Stream Spolers [Finished]
1. The visitor

Netto liked to sleep in during the summer. In fact, it was by far, his favorite thing to do. He could just blissfully sleep for hours on end without anyone waking him up. Even Rockman, his blue clad, green eyed, navi left him alone on such peaceful summer days. Of course, after three weeks his routine was taking its affect and leaving Netto in a constant half asleep state. Not that it mattered; for once Neo WWW had taken a break and not terrorized anyone for awhile. Though Rockman was starting to get a bit nervous, he felt that Netto and Enzan deserved the break.

Three weeks of sleeping in felt great, if only it would last.

Haruka was cooking dinner one night in late June. She hummed as she cooked while Netto was lying on the couch reading his manga. Haruka stopped stirring for a second and looked thoughtful. "Netto, I just wanted to remind you that your Aunt Sakura and your cousin Maki-chan are coming over for a few weeks this summer."

Netto looked up from his book not really hearing what him mom just said. "Mmm?"

"Maki-chan and Aunt Sakura?" Rockman asked

Haruka nodded. "Yes, my sister in law and her daughter. They try to come over at least once a year since the divorce. My sister tends to get lonely."

"Ah, then how come I haven't seen them?" asked Rockman

"Sakura didn't come last year because she felt that Maki needed time to get ready for school."

Rockman gave a thought to the previous statement. "So she's five?"

Haruka nodded. "Yes, and from what I've heard, she's been quite a handful this year."

Netto gave half an ear to the conversation and continued to read his book.

"Netto-kun, what are your thoughts?" asked Rockman, wanting to know his twins input.

Netto shrugged. "Well, Maki-chan nice and all, but we're not going to be here often once net crime picks back up."

Rockman looked down. "Oh, yeah." He said softly

Haruka shook her head. "You're Maki-chan's baby sitter, Netto. I'm going to help my sister try to distress this year. Taking care of a child by your self can be exhausting."

Netto looked up from his book alarmed. "Mama! I can't take Maki-chan on a mission with me!" he said loudly.

Haruka shook her head. "Netto, you know that it's your duty to take care of Maki when your aunt comes over. My poor sister needs some time alone; besides, it's only for a few weeks. Hopefully the nice peace will hold up until then?"

Netto sighed. "I hope so."

Netto smiled into his pillow, dreaming about the ultimate curry dinner. A huge banquet was laid before him with many different dishes waiting to be eaten. The feast was even more grand then the one at Namaste.

Downstairs the door slammed and Rockman could hear voices. Then he heard something that sounded like running feet.

The spiced were blended perfectly and the rice was cooked to perfection. When he picked up the first spoonful he could smell the spicy taste coming off the spoon.

The running feet came closer and closer, pounding up the stairs in quick anticipation. To Rockman, it almost seemed like whoever was climbing up the stairs was trying to fly rather than walk.

Netto lifted the spoon to his lips; he could almost taste how good the curry was……

"NETTO-CHAN!" screamed a small high pitched voice.

The door flew open and slammed into the adjacent wall jerking Netto out of his wonderful dream. Netto blearily opened one eye to glare at his intruder.

Rockman looked too, but with more interest than Netto. The girl was short and small, with big brown eyes and spiky brown hair. She looked a disturbing amount like Netto. Her short hair was pulled into two pigtails, one on either side of her head and bangs hovered just above her eyes. Small wisps of hair that couldn't be held up by her hair ties rested at the base of her neck. She was wearing bright pink overalls over a light blue t-shirt. On the front pocket of her overalls was the Hikari insignia.

She jumped up and down in his room making a small thumping sound. Rockman's eyes followed her bouncing movements until he almost felt dizzy.

"Good morning, Netto-chan. Guess what! Mommy and I are here for a whooooooole month! Isn't that great!"

Now Netto had never been one to be a morning person and this morning was no different, family or not. So instead he turned over and pulled the covers over his head.

"NETTO-CHAN!" Maki ran across the room and pounced on her cousin.

Netto groaned and refused to stir. He had earned his vacation and he was going to take it, damnit!

Maki scowled as she sat on her cousin who was currently drifting back into slumber land. No one would ignore her and get away with it! She looked at the lump in the bed and reached down. She found what she though was his stomach and started to tickle him.

Netto started to squirm and laugh trying to push his cousin off of him. As his laughs grew louder Rockman started to feel a faint sensation on his stomach. Finally Netto turned over and rolled off the bed, tumbling to the floor with his cousin. He landed first and Maki landed on top of his stomach knocking the air out of him.

"Oof…"

"Netto-kun, are you all right?" asked Rockman

It was at that moment when Maki noticed Rockman, in all of his navi glory.

"Netto-chan has a net navi now!" said Maki squealing and running over to Netto's PC.

Netto sat up trying to regain his breath. "Yes, I got second place in the N1 Grand Prix. Mom sent Aunt Sakura an e-mail."

"Well I was only 3 then, duh!"

Netto sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you two get to know each other while I go get dressed." He said grabbing his clothes and heading out the door.

"Hi! I'm Maki, what's your name?"

Rockman looked at her a brief look of puzzlement passed his eyes before he answered. "My name is Rockman."

"Rockman? That's a funny name." she laughed, "So, when did you meet Netto-chan?"

"Two years ago, when he was 11. Ou… His father gave me to him to help keep him out of trouble."

Maki laughed again. "Mama says that Netto could never stay out of trouble. She said I'm a lot like him in that way."

Rockman smiled. "Well that's true, Netto is a handful."

"So, you have a girlfriend?" she asked

"W-what?"

"Well, I was wondering if navi's can have girlfriends."

"Y-yes, I mean. Yes, navi's can have girlfriends but I don't have one."

"Oh, that's too bad. So… do you like anyone?"

Rockman turned bright red and opened his mouth; but no words came out so he closed it. Just then Netto came into the room tying his messy brown hair back with his bandana.

/Thank you Netto-kun. Your cousin is very curious./

/Yeah, be careful, she can really tear into someone./

/You don't need to tell me THAT twice./

"Netto-chan, can we go play?"

"Well, if mom and Aunt Sakura say its okay I can take you to the park."

"YATTA!" Maki threw up her hands and bounded down the stairs two at a time. "Mommy, mommy! Netto-chan said he would take me to the park! Can I go, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeease?" Maki drew out the last 'please' as long as she could.

"I don't see why not." Said Sakura, smiling.

"WHOOO!" the hyper five year old ran out of the room, too the door and started tugging on her shoes. It was then that Netto finally emerged from his room and started to walk down the stairs. He looked at Maki and gave a short laugh as he walked towards the door. On his way over his Aunt touched his elbow.

"Thank you Netto-kun. I appreciate what you're doing."

Netto blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "No… it's really nothing."

"Netto-chan, lets GO!" said Maki, standing by the door.

"All right, I'm coming." Said Netto

Netto sat down on the hard wood floor and started to tug on his orange shoes. Netto's mother stood up and brushed off her skirt.

"Well, I think I'm going to take Sakura out for a little shopping. Can you kids handle yourselves without us?"

"Yes!" said Netto and Maki in unison.

"All right. Netto, I'm trusting you." Said Haruka

Netto nodded.

"See you kids soon!"

Netto and Maki went outside, or in Maki's case, ran to the nearby park. Maybe the summer wouldn't be so bad after all.

Maki ran into the park as fast as she could and immediately ran to the swing set. She pushed herself onto one of the swings and gave a few futile attempts to pump her legs. When she failed in propelling herself she turned to plan B.

"Push me!" she yelled loudly.

Netto had just walked into the park not bothering to run after his cousin. The park was only across the street and not really worth running to, when he could see Maki perfectly fine. He saw her jump onto a swing and wave her legs haphazardly as he came into the park. Of course it took his brain a few seconds to register the command, him being Netto and all.

"Huh?"

"PUSH ME!" she screamed; louder than the last time.

Three mothers looked up from playing with their children to see where the disruption was coming from. When they saw Netto and the five year old girl they shook their heads. Netto laughed nervously and went over to his cousin.

"Maki-chan, please don't scream." He said coming up behind her and putting his hands on her back, starting with a little push.

"'Kay!" she said in her normal tone of voice. Netto continued to push her on the swing and kept her at what he thought was a reasonable height.

/My arms are getting tired./ Netto though/said to his brother.

/Well you were the one who wanted to take her to the park./ Rockman pointed out.

/Uh, no. If I'm not mistaken, she ran upstairs this morning and attacked me. Which you did nothing to stop, by the way./

/Well, if mama let her in then I couldn't lock her out, could I?/

/I could have helped you with it./ said Netto thoughtfully.

/Netto-kun! That's not ni…./

"Higher!" squealed Maki, pulling the brother out of their mental "chat".

"Maki-chan, if I pushed you any higher you could get hurt." Said Netto, who knew Maki's love of jumping off swings.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" she asked, the sound of her voice grew louder and softer with the rock of the swing. This made the plea even more annoying then normal and was starting to give Netto a headache.

"Maki-chan, this is as high as I'll push you. If you want to go higher then learn how to swing on your own." Said Netto through gritted teeth.

Maki was quiet for a few more pushed as she pondered Netto's words. "Then why don't you teach me?" she said brightly.

"What?"

Maki said slowly, trying to make the idea as simple as possible for her cousin. "If you teach me to swing, then I can go higher. So teach me."

/Should I?/ Netto asked Rockman

/Well it couldn't hurt. Maybe it will tire her out too./

/Maki-chan, tired? Have you ever been around 5 year olds?/

/I've been around you for almost two years./ Replied Rockman with a hint of a smile, even though Netto couldn't see it.

/Hey!/

"Well?" Maki asked, starting to get impatient.

Netto sighed. He was still wary of Maki's tendencies and really didn't want her to jump off the swing when he wasn't looking. But the mom's had started to look in his direction again making him sweatdrop. 'Geeze, can't they mind their own business?' he thought to himself.

"Please Netto-chan?" asked Maki, making her eyes as big as she could.

Netto looked at her and sighed. He was never affected by her begging but the annoyance factor was what got to him. He could only stand a five year old's whiny voice for so long.

"Fine, just stop your swing, and don't jump off!" he said quickly as she prepared to do just that.

Maki stuck out her lower lip in a pout and dragged her feet on the ground making the swing stop. Then she pulled herself back into the seat and sat waiting.

Netto sat in the swing next to her and waited for her to get situated. Then she looked up at him. "Ready?" he asked.

Maki nodded, making her brown pigtails bounce up and down. Netto pushed back the swing with his feet to as far as he could go on tiptoe.

"First you need to get a starting push." He said jumping up and letting his swing go forward. Maki followed suit and managed to get some forward momentum, but not as much as Netto's.

"Okay." She yelled

"Then put your legs together." Said Netto, trying to break down the swinging process as much as he could. For something he could do as long as he could remember, it was hard to tell someone else how to do it. Maki, on her part, was listening to everything her cousin said and had put her legs together.

"Then when the swing goes back, let your legs go back, and when it goes forward, let your legs go forward. If you do it right the swing will go up and down on its own."

Maki tried this and was unable to get the rhythm the first few tries. But soon she was pushing the swing on her own and going higher by herself. Netto saw that Maki was doing fine on her own, so he dragged his feet into the ground to make the swing stop. Then he got off and went over to one of the benches.

"Well, at least she's not yelling anymore." Said Rockman

"Thank god." Said Netto

They sat watching Maki swing for about 10 minutes. Netto was beginning to wonder if she was getting sick of swinging that much when his PET beeped.

"Netto-kun, it's a video call from Mejin-san." Said Rockman

"Please, please tell me this isn't a mission." Said Netto softly, sending up a soft prayer to anyone who would listen.

"Hello Netto-kun." Said Mejin as his face appeared on the screen.

Maki, who had patiently been waiting for Netto's attention to be diverted, took the opportunity to get her self ready. As soon as she saw him look at his PET she immediately prepared to jump off the swing.

"Mejin-san, I can't do anything right now. I'm babysitting my younger cousin."

Mejin sweatdropped. "Babysitting? Netto-kun, this is important. Neo WWW has just unleashed an attack on a sci-labs warehouse."

"Can't Enza…." Netto looked up from his PET to give Maki a quick glance. He saw what she was about to do and quickly sprang to his feet. "Maki-chan, don't!" he yelled as he ran over.

Maki let her self fly from the swing, only she let go a little too high. She quickly lost control of her fall and let out a scream as she plummeted towards the earth. She shut her eyes tightly then felt herself wrapped tightly in someone arms.

Netto sprinted towards his cousin with his PET in hand making the picture blurry and Mejin slightly sick. Netto saw Maki turn through mid air and quickly dived forwards so he could catch her in time. He grabbed Maki in mid air and half turned so that she landed on him without any hurt.

One of the mothers came over to see if they were okay with her 3 year old right behind.

"Are you okay, young man?" she asked

Netto groaned, his head spinning with what had happened in such little time. First Mejin then Maki…. And…… Mejin!

Netto pulled himself into a sitting position with Maki in his lap. He looked up at the woman who had just come over and nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"That was quite a save there young man. Though you should be a bit more careful next time, young lady." She said turning her gaze towards Maki.

Maki nodded her big eyes filling with tears. Netto patted Maki on the head and Maki buried her face in Netto's chest. "She'll be all right." Said Netto to the lady.

"Take care." She said taking her child's hand and walking away.

Mejin watched all of this from his current position on the ground. He looked over Netto's cousin and was amazed at how much she looked like she could be Netto's younger sister. Mejin saw the woman walk away and cleared his throat.

Netto looked down at his PET, that he had dropped in his frantic catch. "Sorry, Mejin-san." Netto said apologetically.

"The "san" is not needed." Said Mejin. "Anyways, you need to go there quickly, I'm not sure how much time we have left?"

"What about Enzan?" asked Netto

"Enzan is currently at another location. It seems that this is a double attack. I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to go."

"I can't take a 5 year old with me on a mission!" Netto said loudly.

"Don't worry, Neo WWW is gone, they have been for hours. We don't know what they took and I want you to find out."

"And you didn't say this in the beginning, why?" asked Netto a little irritated.

"Because your cousin decided to play "Trapeze artist", now please hurry up before the trail gets so cold we can't do anything."

"On my way, Mejin-san!" Said Netto, then the screen went blank.

Mejin looked at his dark computer and sighed. "The "san" is not needed." He said to no one in particular.


	2. Neo WWW

Netto looked at the map and saw that the warehouse was a fair distance from where he and Maki currently were. Netto sighed, so much for possibly leaving Maki at home.

"Netto-chan, who was that?" Maki asked.

"That was Mejin-san, we need to go somewhere so I can do a favor for him." Netto said, trying to make the idea as simplistic as possible.

"Why?"

"Because. That's why." Said Netto, finalizing the conversation.

"Oh."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto led Maki back to his house where he grabbed his skates and a snack for Maki. Last time he left the house without anything to eat, Maki had thrown a fit for 30 minutes. Granted, she was three, but he still didn't want that to happen again.

After all his preparations were done Netto looked around the house to make sure he didn't forget anything. Maki grabbed Netto's sleeve and tugged on it. "Hey, Netto-chan, are we going to this place or not?"

"Yeah, we're going. Come on." Netto knelt down to let Maki on his back, which she did with a running leap and a ten point landing, almost knocking Netto over. "Oof…. Geez, you're not that light out know." Said a slightly annoyed Netto.

"Is Netto-chan gonna skate?" asked Maki

"Yes. I'm gonna skate…."

"YAY!" Maki hugged Netto, cutting off his oxygen supply.

"If you let me breathe." Netto finished.

Maki let go and Netto went outside, pulling on his skate blades one at a time. "Okay, hold on." He said and skated towards the aforementioned area. Maki squealed and held on to Netto tightly grinning like crazy.

"Maki-chan, loosen up, I still need to breathe you know." Netto said

Maki loosened her grip around Netto's neck. One block ahead was a very large hill. Maki whispered something into Netto's ear that Rockman couldn't hear. Netto nodded and grinned, then he skated straight for the large hill.

"Netto-kun, what are you-AHHHH!" Netto skated over the hill and was currently going down it as fast as he could. Maki was laughing and Netto was grinning, Rockman felt like he wanted to throw up. At the bottom of the hill Netto coasted to a gentle stop. "Was that fun Maki-chan?" he asked. Netto got a big hug in response.

"Netto-kun, you are insane." Said Rockman

Netto giggled. "Yeah, whatever. Come on, we're not to far away."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto pulled out his PET to get a better look at the map. He skated along the exact specifications and came up to a large, empty looking warehouse. "Well, we're here." He said looking up from the PET to gaze at the warehouse.

"Yay!" Maki jumped off of Netto's back and started to run into the building. Netto grabbed her overalls and pulled her back.

"Hold on, Maki-chan." Netto pushed the release and pulled off his skates. Then he leaned down to Maki's eye level. "Okay, I need you to promise me two things while we're in there. One, you won't make a sound. No talking, got it?" Maki nodded. "Two, stay with me at all times, I don't want you wandering off."

"Why?" asked Maki

"Uhhhh…" Netto couldn't think of an answer.

"Because it's a game!" said Rockman. "If you win the game you'll get a prize at the end."

"I will?" she asked excitedly.

/She will?/ Netto asked

/At least it will keep her quiet./ said Rockman

/Ah, yes. Good idea, nii-san./

"Yes, you will." Said Netto. "But remember the rules. No talking and you have to stay with me the entire time, starting now." Maki nodded and grabbed Netto's hand. Netto turned around and led his cousin into the building.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Well, they did send the brat after all. Looks like he has a little friend with him as well." Said Videoman looking down at the two through a window.

"It doesn't matter, as long as we get what we need." Said Narcy giving a 'Oh, ho ho ho.' Laugh at the end.

"Don't forget what we came here for." Said Suyanama, tipping his hat. "We want the blueprints of sci-labs and Net Savior HQ before anything else."

"Don't worry, if anyone would know, it would be that kid." Said Videoman, grinning.

Narcy shrugged. "I still say we just look for it. He doesn't know we're here and every time we fight him we loose."

"Well, then maybe we should try a different tactic." Said Suyanama

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto led Maki into the back of the warehouse where the main computer was stored. He held out his PET and plugged in Rockman. Maki watched with interest but didn't say anything.

"Okay Rockman, can you sense any forced links?" Netto asked

"Nope, sorry Netto-kun. The computer is clean, you might have to search for physical clues."

"Maybe they didn't come here at all?" Netto wondered.

"Nope, the silent alarm was definitely triggered. I just can't tell by what." Netto opened his mouth. "And no, it wasn't a program. They have alarm immunity."

"Well, then what about used links? Has any data been through them lately."

"Let me check." Rockman scanned all currently opened links. "No data file large enough to be a navi has gone through here. Netto-kun, I think they might have used dimensional chips."

"Why would they do that? Isn't what they want on the computer?"

"I don't know, Netto-kun."

Maki started to pull on Netto's sleeve. "Not now Maki-chan. We're trying to figure this out." Maki just increased the speed and pulled harder. "Maki-chan, stop please." Said Netto. Maki made a little squeaking sound that made Netto look down at her. She was gazing in horror directly behind Netto.

"You know, maybe you should listen to her." Said Videoman.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto looked at Videoman, Narcy, Suyanama and Desertman and froze in fear. A million thoughts rushed in his head. He dimly realized that a few of the thoughts were Rockman's, but that really wasn't important at the time. One thought managed to match up between the two after a minute of staring, both happened to think "run."

Maki held onto Netto's hand tightly, desperately trying to grasp what was going on. What she saw were two people that were obviously navi's, a man in a cowboy hat who was obviously human and a third man in a frilly shirt who could go either way. The main thought in her head was, "why are there navi's in the real world?" Then she felt Netto pick her up and start to run in between the sand navi and the cowboy hat guy. 

For the most part Netto managed to take them by surprise. Though he strongly suspected the reason he got through was because they didn't expect a five year old girl to be with him. All the same he got through and ran into the hallway as fast as he could. He carried Maki under his arm and pulled out his PET. "Rockman, call Mejin."

Rockman rang into Mejin's computer at sci-labs. "Come on, Mejin-san, pick up." Netto quietly begged with the device as he ran.

"Netto-kun, I don't think he's there." Said Rockman

"Why not? He's the one that sent me on this stupid mission in the first place! He said there wouldn't be Neo WWW operatives here." Netto hissed into the PET as he found a small storage hallway adjacent to the main building.

"Well, he probably thought he was right. I don't think he has any idea what's going on, my guess is that he thinks we're home." While Rockman was giving his explanation Netto looked around the hallway and found a small, empty storage room. Netto quickly opened the door and ran inside. As soon as he shut the door Narcy came down the hallway they were just in. Netto held his breath as Narcy walked down the hall and he prayed that he wouldn't open any of the doors. 

Narcy slowly walked by and glanced inside. Maki gave a soft whimper and buried her face into Netto's chest. Netto pressed up against the wall and tried to be as still as he could. Narcy passed on and continued to walk down the small hall, and then he passed back into the main storage unit.

Netto let out his breath in a great whoosh and he felt Rockman relax through the link. He was glad that wasn't Videoman or Desertman because they most likely would have found him in a second, even if hiding from Narcy was a bit degrading. Maki looked up at Netto, Netto looked down at her and saw that she was on the verge of tears. It didn't occur to him how frightening that such a thing would be for Maki, lord knows he had done something along the lines of this particular situation himself many times. Netto gave Maki a quick hug to comfort her and she curled up in Netto's arms and seemed to relax.

"Rockman, do you know Mejin-san's home computer link?" asked Netto quickly. 

Rockman nodded.

"Well, then let's hope he's home." Said Netto

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 

Mejin took the instant ramen out of the microwave. He had a long day and what he needed right then was a nice long, relaxing evening. He walked over to his table and set the steaming bowl of ramen down. As soon as the bowl hit the table his cat came trotting into the kitchen and started to rub against Mejin's legs.

"Go away, Kaini-chan, this is my dinner, yours is over there." He pointed his fork over too the kitty food and water dish in the corner. "Go eat."

The cat turned its green orbs to the food and gave Mejin a look that said, "yeah, right."

Mejin lifted the fork to his mouth still glaring at his cat, and he was matched glare for glare.

After taking a few bites of the ramen his PET started to ring loudly. Mejin groaned and stood up slowly dragging his feet over to the computer. He grumbled about how he never got any free time and how the higher ups expected him to be super human. Mejin pressed the receive button on his computer to let in the video link.

Netto's face came through the link. "Mejin-san, I need a dimensional area." He said quietly, his voice tight.

Mejin missed the tone and his eye twitched in annoyance. "I don't live at sci-labs you know."

"Mejin-san, Neo WWW stayed behind for something, we're currently being chased by Videoman, Desertman and their operators, Maki-chan is with us and we currently have no means to fight them." Said Rockman quickly. Netto could tell he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and he could feel Rockman's panic swell through the link.

Mejin on his part knew that they were in trouble and played the part of the sensible, calm adult very well. "Netto, Rockman, I want you two to stay where you are, do not try to escape, understand?"

"Why?" asked Netto

"Because you will probably get caught, now promise me." Said Mejin as calmly as he could.

The PET com link split into two screens and Mejin saw Netto and Rockman nod solemnly. "Good, now sit tight, it might take awhile to get to sci-labs, because you two decided to get in trouble at rush hour. Can you two promise me that you won't try anything until I send you the dimensional area?"

Netto and Rockman nodded again, but this time with a little more confidence.

Mejin took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll leave right now, when you're done come straight to Net Saviors HQ and tell me everything that happened. I'll meet you there, okay?"

Mejin saw one last nod and then the com link closed. "Good luck" he said. Then he thought. 'What am I saying? I have to get there first, good luck to me.' Mejin grabbed his coat and ran out the door hastily locking it and getting into his car.

Mejin's cat jumped on the table and started to finish off Mejin's abandoned and forgotten meal. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto stayed where he was for the most part only moving to make sure no one was going down the hall or otherwise coming to invade their hiding spot.

Maki-chan was miraculously quiet the whole time, something Netto had previously thought impossible. She was more into curling into Netto's arms and shutting her eyes then talking at that moment. Not that Netto was complaining, at least she wasn't getting herself, or anyone else into trouble.

Unbeknownst to Netto, Maki or Rockman sand started to trickle into the room through the air vent and fell into a pool behind a lone set of boxes. Netto continued to hold Maki-chan as she had her silent breakdown. Netto felt extremely guilty about leading her into such danger, but he figured he could yell at himself later, at that point he needed to focus on not getting caught. 

Suyanama found Desertman's data signature through his PET and smiled. It seemed that it was going to be easier to catch them then he thought. Whistling an annoyingly cheerful tune, he started to walk towards where the signal indicated.

Desertman had finally managed to get his entire mass through the vent without anyone in the room being the wiser. He left himself in a pool of sand until he got the signal from Suyanama, then he slowly started to shape himself into his original form.

The data shifting signal was finally large enough to alert Rockman that something was off inside the room. "Netto-kun…" he said softly.

Netto nodded and slowly stood up. Hopefully he could pull off his own stealth escape, though he felt like panicking at that point. Maki set her feet on the ground and looked up at Netto for guidance. Netto put a finger to his lips and slowly started to open the door; Desertman finally finished reshaping his body and flew at them in a full fledged attack.

Netto quickly yanked Maki out the door and shut it. He pushed up against the door to make sure it stayed closed; feeling the pressure of the sand navi hit the door with a powerful blast. When he felt that he had held it long enough he reached down to grab Maki, only to find that she wasn't next to him.

Netto looked around frantically, only to see Maki being held up by the straps of her overalls by Suyanama. She looked like she was about to cry and Netto felt like he was about to scream in frustration. Why couldn't anything go right for once?

"Well, well, well, glad to see you could make it to our little party. What happened, did the dimensional converter fail?" asked Maki's captor in a smarmy tone.

"None of your business." Said Netto through clenched teeth.

"Well, that's no way to talk to an adult, kid. Maybe you should show more respect." He said, his eyes narrowing.

Netto snorted and crossed his arms, completely oblivious to the sand pooling at his feet…

/Netto-kun, don't make him mad, he has Maki-chan./ said Rockman

/Don't you think I know that? What should I do?/ asked Netto /Just let them capture me?/

/Netto-kun, I hate to say this, but if it means Maki-chan is safe, then yes./

Netto mentally sighed. /I know. I'll never hear the end of this from Enzan when we escape./ 

Suyanama grinned. "So, kid, will you help us out? Or will your little friend stay with me while you think it over." If looks could kill Suyanama would have been dead three minutes ago, by this time the whole building would not exist anymore. Suyanama glared back, only he had a grin on his face. He looked entirely too comfortable using a little kid as bait to trap another kid. "Well?" he asked

Netto dropped his gaze. "Whatever." He said. When Netto glanced down, he saw the now quite large collection of sand at his feet, but instead of jumping out of the way like he knew he could, he just stayed here he was.

/Netto-kun, are you sure?/ asked Rockman

/Duh, mama and Aunt Sakura would kill me if anything happened to Maki-chan, and they are twenty times scarier then Neo WWW could ever be./ said Netto with a hint of a smile

/At least you can still joke, I'll take that as a good sign./ said Rockman

Suyanama couldn't hear the inner monologue of the twins but he knew a chance when he saw one. He nodded and all too soon Netto found himself trapped in the giant fist of Desertman. 

"Netto-chan!" Maki screamed. She started to thrash in her captor's grip, only to be held even tighter.

Desertman's grip was very tight making it hard for Netto to breathe; Rockman could feel the pain setting on his chest as if it was him in the clutches of the monster navi. Netto could see Maki-chan thrashing, desperately trying to get free. Netto was afraid that if she kept on squirming then Suyanama might hurt her. Rockman felt the same way, although he could sense that Suyanama was starting to loose his grip, just a little bit.

Maki, who was now in a blind panic, thrashed like only a five year old could; Suyanama found it difficult to keep his current hold on her and tried to shift the way he was holding her. Finding a brace Maki slammed her feet into his stomach making him loose his grip enough for Maki to wrench free.

As soon as Maki was on the ground she looked up to Netto, as if she had some desperate plan to get him free. Netto, not caring if she could free him or not just wanted to make sure someone got out. "Get out of here!" he yelled at her. Yes, it was a bit harsh, but it did the job. Jerking Maki out of her daze she took off down the hall and ran back into the small storage room she and Netto was in before. Suyanama took after her and ran into the room, only to find it completely empty, he growled as he looked around for her means of escape.

Narcy came from behind and placed his hand on Suyanama's shoulder. "It's all right, it's not like she can do anything. We have what we need; now let's finish this and get out of here before a dimensional area comes."

Suyanama nodded and followed Narcy out of the room. Maki watched them leave from inside the ventilation shaft.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Big ass update just for you Review, ask questions, anything.


	3. Review

Videoman was outside the hall gloating to the captured human and navi. He took great joy in the fact that this time around he had not been the one who was defeated. Especially because it was Rockman and Rockman's Operator; the two that had defeated him time and time again. Desertman was not quite as bitter as Videoman, only because he had nearly defeated Netto and Rockman in his own right, although the Net team of Enzan and Blues came to save them at the last moment. Even if a good deal of these events occurred when they were Darkloid navis they still remembered and knew the humiliating defeats they had suffered and they were in no mood for mercy. Even so, when they were not in cross fusion they both seemed so…… weak. Without Rockman in the real world Netto was completely vulnerable and without an operator Rockman couldn't do anything anyway.

They were just two kids, not the super human being they fought when the dimensional area came up, and they loved it.

"So kids, who knew you, would give up so easily? Are you that weak?" Videoman taunted.

Unfortunately, the stressed Netto took the bait. "Hey! Your stupid operators used my five year old cousin as bait, that's low even for you!"

Desertman squeezed his fist warningly, making Netto give out a cry of discomfort.

/Netto-kun, maybe you shouldn't talk./ said Rockman. /They're willing to kill you, it's almost happened before and I can assure it will happen again./

/What am I supposed to do? Sit here and…"

/Yes/ Rockman interrupted /By all means, if it ensures you're safety then it's probably the best plan we've got./

/Gee, you sound like you have so much confidence right now./ came the sarcastic reply.

/Netto-kun, if we can just bide our time until the Dimensional Area comes then we have a chance, but mouthing them off when you're still in human form is not the best way to improve our chances/ said Rockman in a low and quick tone. Netto gave no reply to his brother's little speech.

Videoman and Desertman were beginning to wonder about the normally mouthy human's sudden silence, but before they could bring it up Suyanama and Narcy came from the from, and to Netto and Rockman's immense relief, Maki-less as well. His relief must have shown on his face because it prompted Suyanama to say "Don't be too happy, kid. Don't forget, it's you we're after."

Netto snorted. "And, just why the hell would you be after me?"

/Cool it, Netto-kun./ Rockman warned

Rockman's warning proved to be needed because Narcy put his face inches away from Netto's. He gave a very creepy, wide grin and said "Because you can tell us where the blueprints are in this building."

Netto blinked. "Wha…. Blueprints?"

"Oh, don't play stupid kid. It's not becoming." Suyanama cut in. "We know the blueprints to sci-labs and Net Saviors HQ are in this warehouse."

Netto smirked. "Well your information is bad, there are no blueprints here."

Desertman started to tighten his grip again. "Come on kid, we're not joking." Suyanama said.

Rockman's muffled voice came from inside the sand cocoon. "Neither are we! There isn't something that important at this minimum security warehouse."

Netto cut in. "That and, this is a data warehouse. I know for a fact that the only remaining blueprints for Sci-Labs and the HQ are on paper, and locked up in their own buildings."

"Lies!" screeched Narcy "You're just trying to throw us off the trail so we don't get what we're after!"

Netto shrugged as best he could. "Believe what you want, I told you the truth."

/Half truth anyway./ came Rockman's, somewhat amused voice.

/Like I'd tell then where the real blueprints are./ said Netto

Suyanama gave a smile almost as bad as Narcy's. "Well kid, if you don't want to help then you're not much use to us, are you?"

Netto eyes widened briefly but he managed to keep his cool. /We're in trouble, huh/ he said, no humor in the question.

/Looks like it, but I don't think they're gonna kill us, not yet./ said Rockman

Desertman started to tighten his grip before Netto could give a reply. Only this time he didn't loosen up. Netto saw his vision face at the corners as he fought for air, when he couldn't take any oxygen in, or push back the giant fist he was forced to give up his struggle and he blacked out.

When Netto collapsed, Desertman loosened his grip. Suyanama lifted Netto's body out of the giant hand and fished Netto's PET out of its holder. Rockman was panting slightly but Suyanama thought nothing of it and turned off the PET before Rockman could give any protest. Suyanama smiled and put the useless PET back.

"Why are we keeping him alive?" Asked Videoman, slightly perturbed.

"Because, I know this kid knows more then he's telling us, in case we can't get through something then he might be able to help." Said Suyanama coolly.

Maki crawled through the vents trying to look for a way out. She had to get help for Netto-chan! But the stupid vents went of forever. Every once in awhile a huge hole would come up and the pathway would branch off into four directions around the hole. Whenever Maki cane up to on of those she would backtrack to another branch and continue from there. She love Netto-chan but even she wasn't brave enough to cross over huge, gaping holes. There was only so much she could do after all.

Someone up there but have been feeling kindly towards pink clad five year olds, because in an amazing stroke of luck she found the control room, the place she could call for help, and the place that Netto was being held. She looked out of the vent and saw the fire alarm placed on the side of the door. There were also a control panel and servers placed throughout the room. In the center of the room, still unconscious and tied to a chair was Netto. Maki almost burst out of her hiding place but she caught sight of the tall black and green navi before her body acted on its own.

She had to help Netto-chan! But what could she do?

Netto came to his senses slowly. At first he though he heard his mom calling his name, but that wasn't right……

/Netto-kun…/ there was a pause

/Mama/ Netto asked groggily, he wasn't even aware enough to notice that the question and reply were mentally spoken.

/Netto-kun, get a grip. It's me, Rockman, now WAKE UP/ Rockman 'said' as loud as he could, given the circumstances.

/Wake…/ The thought finally registered in his brain. "Wha?" he opened his eyes and jerked up, only to find that he was restrained by very tightly tied ropes. He heard a cold chuckle and saw Videoman looking at him. Netto felt a flicker of fear, and then he just felt annoyed. For all he had gone through that day, everything culminated to this one moment and the strongest emotion he had was annoyance.

Rockman felt Netto and wondered what exactly was bugging Netto so much.

/Gee, I don't know, maybe because I've been captured by Neo WWW on a mission I didn't even want to take in the first place. Maki could be in danger and I'm currently to worst babysitter on the face of this planet./

/Netto-kun, Maki-chan is probably fine. We have more of a pressing issue on our hands right now. Maki-chan is smart, she'll get out./

/I hope so…/

Their mental chat was interrupted by Videoman. "So, Rockman's operator, are you upset? Angry that you got caught so easily?"

"I have a name you know." Said Netto; avoiding the questions. "And it's not 'Rockman's Operator' either."

Videoman raised an eyebrow. "Oh, then humor me kid."

Netto snorted. For a twelve year old being held captive he was awfully cool about it. "Please, you know what my name is; you just like to annoy me."

Videoman shrugged. "Well, you've certainly given me many reasons to hate you. Why should I show you sympathy? You've humiliated and deleted me."

Netto smiled without humor. "So?"

/Netto-kun! Can you PLEASE think about what you say before you say it?"

Videoman looked very angry, and then his expression took a 180 and he gave a merciless grin. Netto, who was more then a little creeped out dripped his own smile and glared at Videoman instead.

/You love to play with fate, don't you Netto-kun./ said Rockman, oh-so-slightly annoyed.

/You're not helping/ said Netto

"Well, Netto-kun, the tabled ate turned now," Videoman put his fingers under Netto's chin and forced Netto to meet his eyes. "and don't you forget it."

Netto matched him glare for glare, not looking away or blinking. The silent glare match lasted for close to a minute before the walkie talkie around Videoman's belt crackled to life. "Videomaaaan!" Narcy's whiny voice came out of the small black box.

Videoman released Netto and picked up the box. "Yes?" he asked, his voice tight from annoyance.

"We ran into problems getting into the main computer. Get down here!" he said

Videoman sighed. "All right, I'll be there in a minute." He clicked the small device off and looked down at Netto. "You got lucky this time kid. I suggest you don't mouth me off when I get back." Videoman walked out the door and right before the door closed Netto stuck his tongue out at Videoman.

/Netto-kun, please be more careful/

/Whatever./ Netto glared at the floor.

Rockman sighed. /Well, it still could be worse./

/Like…/

/They could have captured Maki-chan too./

/That's true./

Maki looked out of the ventilation shaft and watched the black and green man pace the room, talking to Netto, and then finally leaving. Maki was too far away to hear what was being said but she could tell that the navi was very happy about Netto being captured. When he finally left she braced herself against the vent over. It was loose but it didn't move very well. She found it hard to find a brace inside the smooth ventilation shaft, finally she just slammed her back into the cover and it gave way. She gasped, and tried to stop the laws of motion that were taking over her body now that there was nothing supporting her.

Netto heard a loud crash behind him, followed by a squeak and a thumping sound. He tried to turn around to see what had happened, but the most he could manage was to turn his head and take a glance out of peripheral vision. He saw Maki on the ground coughing. Her pink overalls were dirty at the knees and her blue shirt had dirt at the elbows, she also had a cobweb crown adorning her hair. Netto's first though that that he would have to clean her before his mom and aunt came home.

Then Netto came to his senses. "Maki-chan, are you okay?"

Maki finished coughing and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, I think so." She replied.

Netto groaned. "Maki-chan, I told you to run away, what are you doing here?" he said harshly.

Maki calmly stood up and dusted herself as best she could, then she ran over to the chair that Netto was in. She pulled on the roped tying Netto's hands behind his back, trying to untie them.

Netto became annoyed at her blatant ignoring. "Maki-chan, get out of here." He hissed. "It's dangerous."

Maki kept her mouth shut and kept on pulling.

Netto sighed. "Maki-chan it's a bad idea for you to be here, Videoman could return any minute."

Maki didn't answer; she just continued to tug at the roped trying to loosen the knots. Her small fingers were able to loosed the roped considerably finally pulling them loose, but before she could unwind them the doorknob slowly turned.

"Run!" Netto whisper-yelled.

Maki didn't need telling twice and took a mad dash towards the servers making a leap behind them before the door fully opened. Videoman came back in grinning. "Well kid, there has to be something here, this is an awfully secure please for minimum security."

Netto rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I don't care. Just leave me alone."

"Oh, are you feeling sore? Don't like to loose?" he jeered.

"Yes, now go away." Said Netto

"I don't have to do anything, kid. May I remind you of your position here." Said Videoman, crossing his arms.

Netto was starting to get nervous, Videoman could discover Maki-chan at any moment. Then it would be his fault and he would get into more trouble then he was already in, not to mention Maki.

"So, it that other kid here? Are you worried I might catch her?" asked Videoman, flashing his green teeth.

Netto vainly tried to not let the worry show on his face. "No." he said a little too quickly.

Videoman's grin broadened into a smile. "Well, where is you little friend I wonder?" He walked away from Netto and went towards the servers. Maki saw his coming and tried to shrink back further. Netto quickly unwound the ropes from his wrists and started to pull at the cords around his chest.

Maki pushed herself in between two servers in a vain attempt to not be spotted as Videoman came through. Netto finally got free from the chair and quickly started to untie his ankles. Netto saw Videoman get closer and closer to Maki-chan's hiding place, Netto could have sworn he heard a small whimper. When he was finally able to stand up; Videoman too a peek in between two servers. "Hello." He said to the terrified five year old.

Netto frantically prayed for a small miracle, maybe, just maybe…

Netto's prayers were answered by a goy in a jersey and lab coat, who finally pressed the big red button. The multi-colored dimensional area formed a dome over the building. Netto looked around at the many hued surface, relief flooding in his chest, then he looked back to his immediate problem.

"Leave her alone!" Netto yelled, while he turned back on his PET.

Videoman turned around and Maki peaked from her hiding spot.

"Well, this is interesting." Said Videoman, not loosing his cool.

Netto took out the syncro chip. "Ready, Rockman?"

"Yes!" said Rockman, for all the world sounding like a worried mother.

"Cross fusion!" they said simultaneously.

Maki saw a blue bubble surround Netto and expand, when the light diminished she saw Netto, or at least she thought it was Netto, standing there. Only, he had a helmet and body suit, and he looked exactly like Rockman except his hair and eyes were the same color. So the only conclusion she could think of was 'Netto-chan is a navi?'

Videoman looked down on them with scorn. "Well, looks like you got free. You think you're so smart, brat!" as he yelled the last word, he flew forward with his tape flying towards them. Netto picked up Maki and jumped smoothly out of the way. He landed a few feet to the right and the tape flew forward and smashed into the wall leaving a small crater. Netto set Maki down on the floor and Videoman wound the tape back into his arms.

"Well well well, having a tough time? Gonna run away?" he asked, pushing the button he knew was there.

Netto clenched his fist and it shook, but he did not give into the heartless gibe. Instead he summoned a mini bomb to his hand.

"Oh? Are you gonna throw that at me?" Videoman asked with fake surprise. "Remember what happened last time kid?"

Netto threw it anyways and as Videoman went to bounce it back he shot it with his buster making it explode in Videoman's face. Then before the smoke cleared, he picked up Maki-chan and ran.

Videoman coughed and waved his hand to clear the smoke. "Think that was enough to take me out kid?" he called, but he saw that no one was there. "Heh, looks like he got scared."

Netto ran down the halls with Maki in his arms. Maki looked up at him with an almost horrified expression on her face. Netto looked down at her and saw that she was scared, so he retracted his face mask back and smiled. "It's okay. It's just me." He said as soothingly as he could. Maki didn't say anything in return.

Netto turned the corner to find a small welcoming committee for him. Videoman and Desertman both stood there blocking the hallway that led out of the building. "Lookie at who showed up." Said Suyanama

Netto stopped dead in his tracks and glared at them. "What do you want?"

"We want the blueprints!" said Narcy

"I told you, there are no blueprints! You guys were tricked." Yelled Netto, he was really starting to loose his patience.

"Kid, I will say this only once, tell us where the blueprints are or we will take this place down."

Netto sniffed. "I'd like to see you try."

Videoman launched himself at Netto and Netto quickly sidestepped. He brought up his elbow and slammed it down onto Videoman's back making his loose balance. In the hesitation Netto jumped out of the way and landed with his back to a corner.

"Heh, worked yourself into a trap, huh kid?" asked Suyanama

"I wonder about that?" retorted Netto. He set Maki down behind him and took a defensive stance. It then became apparent that he was trying to protect his cousin, and landed in the corner on purpose.

Videoman screeched and flew at Netto with his tape, which Netto brought up a barrier to parry. Desertman then sent a sand lion at him, but Netto used a charged shot to make it collapse.

"You can't do that forever kid, sooner or later you're gonna run out of steam!" said Desertman

Netto summoned his face guard and a water tower battle chip. "Don't, mess, with, me!" he yelled slamming his hand onto the ground. Where his palm touched the cement a giant column of water shot up and doused the two navis. Desertman's body shifted to absorb the water, but he winced at the feeling none the less.

"Bubble shot!" Netto yelled out. A jet of water flew out in an unbelievable force and slammed into Desertman's body, once again the sand shifted to absorb the damage.

Videoman was getting fed up. "Hey, there are two of us you know!" he yelled and sent a giant roll of tape at Netto. Netto braced and took the blow, knowing that if he jumped Maki would have gotten hit. He collapsed onto one knee and panted when the attack disappeared.

Videoman laughed. "Come on kid, fight us seriously."

Netto's eyes blazed, he quickly assed the situation desperately looking for anything that might give him an advantage. He looked above them and saw a sprinkler system.

/Hey Rockman, think we could set that thing off? Is it still online/ he asked

/Yes, but be careful, you don't want to really set this place on fire./

Netto nodded. /Yeah I know, but we have to finish this./

/Then go for it./ said Rockman

Netto didn't need telling twice. He raised his hand in the air again. Videoman laughed "Kid, you've tried that already, it didn't work."

"Fire tower!" he yelled. This time, when his palm me the ground a spark jumped from his hand to the floor creating a huge flame that reached to the ceiling. Just as Netto had predicted the sprinkler system was set off and the water came down in torrents. Videoman and Desertman were drenched.

Maki stood there; clutching Netto's leg and watching the events unfold before her. To her it was like watching the best sci fi movie ever, only it was real, and Netto was the hero.

Netto raised his hand again. "Thunder!" he called out, a lightning bolt zapped both Videoman and Desertman before they had time to react, but Netto wasn't finished yet. "Blizzard!" he called. A small ghost looking virus appeared next to him and blew out a steady stream of snow; the two navi's were frozen in two blocks of ice before they could even blink.

They logged out and Netto turned to face Narcy and Suyanama. "Well?" he asked only they weren't there anymore. They had long since run away, making Netto scowl. "Cowards."

The dimensional area disappeared and the crossfusion disappeared from his body to turn back into Rockman's PET which Netto caught with relief.

"You okay?" he asked

"I'm fine, but you and Maki are going to get sick if you stay in here much longer." Said Rockman

Netto looked up to see the sprinklers still going in his face. He sighed and looked at Maki who was shivering, due to the cold. He hadn't thought out this part of the plan.

"Well." He said bending down to pick Maki up. "It could have been worse."

Just then a team of firefighters burst in and started to spray everything with their fire hose.

Netto and Maki both sat shivering in blankets outside of the warehouse. "Well this is just great." Netto said

Maki continued to shiver and Netto looked down at her with pity. He sighed "Here." He said and unwrapped her from her blanket, then he pulled her into his lap and wrapped both of the blankets around them tightly. "Better?" he asked

Maki leaned against him gratefully and nodded.

"Well kid. You are who you say you are." Said the fire chief handing Netto back his PET. "I had no idea that the Net Saviors hired kids." He laughed

Netto bristled. "I'm not a kid!" he said

The fire chief laughed. "Right, I'm sorry. So, you set off the sprinkler system?" he asked

Netto blushed. "Yeah, it was the only way to get rid of Neo WWW."

The fire chief let out a whistle. "Wow, Neo WWW, just a kid and so high ranking too."

Netto looked irked again. "I said, I'm not a kid!"

Before the fire chief could reply Mejin pulled up in his blue car. He got out and jogged over to where Netto and the fire chief were currently arguing. "Are you two okay?" he asked Netto and Maki

"Yeup!" Netto said, Maki nodded and tried to shrink into Netto's arms. The guy in the lab coat was kind of scary.

Mejin smiled. "Good, now let's go. Enzan just came in, and you need to give your report."

"Wha? I thought you said this was a random mission." Said Netto. He really just wanted to go home and take a long relaxing bath.

Mejin shook his head. "Nope, this was planned. And not by Neo WWW either."

Netto and Enzan sat at the end of a long conference table and Mejin sat across from them. Maki was still curled up in her blanket and currently napping in Netto's arms. Enzan raised an eyebrow when he saw her but didn't ask any questions.

"Okay, I just got of the phone with Sharro. Laika is coming too." Said Mejin

Netto coughed. "Laika? How big is this?"

"Bigger then you think. There seems to be a new net mafia out there and it's not Neo WWW."

"So, what happened?" asked Enzan

Mejin sighed. "They stole the blueprints to Sci Labs and Net Saviors HQ."

Netto jumped and Maki groaned in her sleep. "What?" he said

"While you two were out, the security vaults they were in were hacked and they were stolen. Both of them."

Enzan looked extremely unhappy. "So, what now?"

Mejin shrugged. "I don't know, we can't do anything until they contact us, we have no idea who these people are."

"Then why tell us?" asked Netto

"Because, they also stole information on you two. About your abilities to crossfuse and some…" Mejin searched for the right word and looked at Netto. "Personal stuff as well."

Netto blanched. "They have their hands on the Saito Files?" Rockman asked in a horrified whisper.

Enzan looked puzzled.

"For now yes, but don't worry, there is so much encoding in that thing they probably won't be able to break it for a few days and hopefully we can retrieve it in that time."

Netto looked less then happy but nodded all the same. "Okay, so we wait. When's Laika gonna get here?" he asked

"Hopefully in a few hours. Care to hang around until then?" asked Mejin

Netto shook his head. "Can't I gotta get her home. She's wet and hungry, not to mention it mama and aunt Sakura see us like this they'll flip."

Enzan looked at the girl in Netto's arms. "Who is she anyway?" he asked

"She's my cousin, Maki-chan." He said

Just then Maki-chan stirred and woke up. She looked at Netto sleepily. "Hey, is the game over?" she asked

Netto blinked. "Game?"

/Netto-kun! The game you started before you went into the warehouse, the one to keep her quiet/ Rockman said

"O-oh! That game. Uhhh, yeah." He said smiling

Enzan and Mejin exchanged puzzled glances.

Maki looked down. "Did I win?" she asked. Netto blinked. "I mean, I talked, and I'm sorry, but I didn't mean to I tried! Really I did and…" Netto put his finger on her lips.

Suyanama couldn't hear the inner monologue of the twins but he knew a chance when he saw one. He nodded and all too soon Netto found himself trapped in the giant fist of Desertman.

"Netto-chan!" Maki screamed. She started to thrash in her captor's grip, only to be held even tighter.

"That didn't count." Netto said giving her a wink. "Since the bad guys cheated, it didn't count against you."

Maki's eyes widened. "They cheated?" she gasped

Netto nodded. "Yeup, and you didn't so you automatically win."

Maki giggled and threw her arms around Netto. "Yay! So what did I win?"

"Well stop at the ice cream store tomorrow." Said Netto

Maki looked up at him with big eyes. "Promise?" she asked holding out her pinky.

Netto took hit and gave it a firm shake. "I promise. But now we need to go home before mama and aunt Sakura panic."

"Okay!" Maki said. She jumped off Netto's lap and ran out the door.

Netto sighed and got up. "Netto-kun." Said Mejin. Netto turned around to look at who called him. "I expect you here at 8 A.M. tomorrow."

Netto sighed. "Yeah, I know. Maki might be with me though."

"It's okay. The next few days will be desk work anyway."

Netto winced. "Joy." He said sarcastically. Then he left the room to chase after Maki.

Enzan blinked. "Who knew he was so good with kids."

Netto opened the front door and helped a sleepy looking Maki inside. "We're home." He called out dully.

Aunt Sakura and Haruka rushed in looking frantic. "Where were you? We looked in the park and called…" Haruka looked at Netto and Maki. "What happened?" she asked

Netto shook his head. "Please, don't ask. We're fine and everything is okay."

Aunt Sakura bent down to Maki's level and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Maki nodded, her pig tails bouncing. "Yeah! Hey mommy, did you know that Netto-chan is a super hero?"

Netto coughed and Rockman giggled. Aunt Sakura gave her nephew an odd look. "Is this true?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

Netto started to blush and tried to sneak away but his mom grabbed his arm and shook her head.

"Yeah! He transformed into a navi and fought bad guys! It was so cool! First they caught him, but I helped to save him and…"

Haruka blanched. "What?" she said, horrified.

"Ah heh, mama, its okay. Nothing happened, we're all fine." Said Netto trying to calm his mother down.

"Transform?" asked Aunt Sakura.

Netto groaned. "And then…" Netto placed a hand over Maki's mouth.

"Maki-chan, maybe you shouldn't tell them about today. Why don't you go get ready for bed." He suggested.

"Okay!" she said happily and skipped out of the room.

Netto turned around to his less then happy mom and aunt. "Yeah, about today…" he started.

After Netto and Maki had cleaned up and Maki was in bed, Netto told the entire story of what exactly had happened. By the end, Haruka was holding Netto like she would never let go and Aunt Sakura was in shock.

"How long have you been doing this?" she asked.

"For close to a year. We've been kinda busy and we were hoping for a little more down time, but it seems that a new net mafia has shown up." Said Netto. "I'm sorry if this ruins any plans you have." He said

His aunt shook her head. "No, I'm just glad you're both all right. Though, maybe we'll take Maki tomorrow." She said.

Netto nodded. "Yeah, that'd be a good idea."

Maki, who had been listening the whole time from the entryway, came out into the light. "No!" she yelled.

Everyone looked at her startled. Her mother was the first one to reply. "Young lady, you should be in bed…" she started.

"No! I want to stay with Netto-chan. We came here to visit them and I want to play with him." She folded her arms across her chest.

Sakura shook her head. "Honey, it's dangerous! You could get hurt!" she said.

"I wanna be with Netto-chan…" Maki said, her eyes filling with tears.

Netto sighed. "Aunt Sakura, the next few days will be desk work and trying to find out who the new people are. Maki-chan can come with me, and when the field work starts up I'll leave her at home." He said

"Yippie!" said Maki

Sakura thought it over. "All right." She said. "But I want Maki to call me every two hours, okay?"

Maki nodded. "Fair enough." Said Rockman

"Now go to bed." Said Sakura

"But mommy…" she said

"Not another word young lady. It's past your bed time and you've had a big day. Go to bed."

Maki sighed and dragged herself upstairs.

"I'm going to bed too." Said Netto

Haruka kissed her son on the cheek. "Good night you two, sweet dreams."

Netto blushed. "Night mama."

Netto went upstairs and closed the door to his bed room.

"How do you handle this every day." Said Sakura

"I don't. I just hide it very well." said Haruka.

Maki woke up at 2:34 shivering, but not due to the cold. In fact it was well over 70 degrees, but for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that Netto was going to leave her behind. Never mind that it was 2:30 in the morning, she wanted to make sure Netto was still there.

Maki slid out of bed and walked down the hallway to Netto's bedroom, being careful of the squeaky floorboard she knew was there. She crept up to her cousin's bed room door and opened it carefully. It squeaked as it opened and a soft beam of light hit Netto's face. He winced and turned over muttering something about curry. She crept into the room and shook Netto.

"Netto-chan." She whispered

Netto grumbled and stirred but didn't wake up.

"Netto-chan?" she asked in a normal tone of voice.

Netto growled and pulled his covers over his head. "What do you wan, Maki-chan?" he asked hoarsely.

"Netto-chan, are you going to leave me alone tomorrow?" she asked

"Wh-wha? Of course not, well go see Mr. Happy and Mr. Peppy tomorrow." He said sarcastically.

Maki-chan had no idea what he was talking about. "Netto-chan?" she asked again.

Netto sat up looking a little cross. "Look, Maki, I won't leave you tomorrow, but it's like 2 in the morning! Can't you go back to bed?"

Maki shook her head. "I can't sleep." She said softly.

Netto sighed and made a face. "Then go ask your mom if you can sleep with her." He said getting ready to go back to sleep.

"Mommy might get worried that I'm awake. I don't want to scare her…" said Maki

Netto sighed, "So, you want to sleep with me then?" he asked.

Maki looked up. "Really?" she asked.

Netto gave a half smile and lifted his covers to let her in. "Sure, just this once, and go to sleep." He added, while tucking her in.

Maki nodded happily and soon they were both asleep.

Mejin looked at his watch. "Its 8:30, where is he?" he asked.

Enzan shrugged. "Mejin-san, you can't expect Netto to be on time." He said

Laika sighed; sometimes Netto could be a real flake. "Maybe he just slept in." he added.

"Then go wake him up. We need to start this." Said Mejin.

"Wait, us? Why don't you just call him?" asked Enzan

"I tried, but Rockman won't pick up. Apparently its sleep for everyone today."

Enzan looked doubtful. "Well it is his vacation, after all."

Mejin rubbed his eyes. "I know, but I'm under a lot of pressure from the higher ups to get back those blueprints. Not to mention, the personal data, if cracked could put Netto and Rockman's lives in jeopardy."

Enzan and Laika exchanged glances. "What is that supposed to mean?" asked Blues from his PET.

Mejin shook his head. "You boys will have to ask Netto and Rockman about that. For the time being will you please get them up?" he asked.

Enzan and Laika saluted Mejin and walked out the door. Mejin sweatdropped as they left. They could be freakishly mature for their actual ages.

Mejin and Laika rang the doorbell of Netto's house three times before they were admitted by Haruka. She looked surprised at their entrance. "Well, Enzan-kun and, umm…" she didn't recognize the blue haired one.

Laika gave a polite bow. "I'm Laika, ma'am." He said.

Haruka smiled. "Ah, Laika-kun then. I take it you're looking for Netto?" she asked.

Enzan nodded. "Netto was supposed to show up at Net Saviors HQ 45 minutes ago."

Haruka nodded and ushered them into the house. "Of course! Netto is upstairs, he's still asleep as you've probably guessed."

Enzan and Laika removed their shoes and went upstairs.

Sakura looked at them. "They're all so young!" she exclaimed once they were out of ear shot.

Haruka looked concerned. "I know, and Netto is the youngest."

Enzan knocked on Netto's door. "Netto are you awake?" he asked

They waited for about a minute before actually opening the door. Inside, they saw Maki curled up, with her back facing Netto's chest. Netto had loosely put his arms around her so as to make sure she wouldn't fall off the bed at night. They were both sound asleep as was Rockman, who was still in the PC.

Enzan really didn't want to wake them up and neither did Laika. However, Netto did know better then to sleep in when he was told to be somewhere at a certain time. Enzan walked over quietly and shook Netto on the shoulder. "Hey, Netto wake up."

Netto groaned and turned over, jarring Maki and making her eyes flutter.

The shake didn't wake up Netto but it did wake up Rockman. "Enzan-san?" he asked sleepily.

Enzan turned around to see Rockman rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Rockman, why didn't you wake Netto up?"

"Nn? I thought it was 7:45…" he said

Enzan looked at him strangely. "Rockman, your data is off by an hour." He said

Rockman looked at him, alarmed. "What! I can't believe it!"

Maki sat up yawning. "Are you Netto-chan's friends?" she interrupted.

Everyone turned around to look at her. Rockman answered first. "Y-yes, Maki-chan, this is Enzan-san, you met him yesterday, and Laika-san." He said pointing to Laika. "Their navi's are Blues and Searchman."

Maki grinned. "Good morning!"

Laika and Enzan looked at her like she was an alien. "Ummm, hi." said Enzan.

Maki turned around and pounced on Netto, waking him up in a rather rude manner. "Netto-chan, your friends are here!" she said.

Netto mumbled sleepily. "Maki-chan, getoff... too early..."

"No, it's not. Netto, you were supposed to be at HQ an hour ago." said Laika

Netto sat up quickly. "WHAT?" He looked at his clock. "Geez, Rockman. What happened?"

Rockman looked sheepish. "Sorry Netto-kun. I guess I wasn't paying attention."

Netto sighed and got out of bed. "Never mind that. Maki-chan, you go get dressed, okay?"

"Yeup!" she ran out of the room to where her clothes were.

Netto turned to face Enzan and Laika. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it was so late." he said, laughing a little.

Enzan sighed. "Just get dressed, Netto."

Netto grabbed his own clothes and went into the bathroom. Today was going to be a long day.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Please review, I'll love you for it


	4. Secrets

Maki was being given a piggy back ride as they walked towards Net Saviors HQ. She bounced along happily as she Netto, Laika and Enzan walked on the long street. "So, she's your cousin?" Laika asked.

Netto nodded. "Yeah, every year, save last year, she and Aunt Sakura have visited our house for about a month."

"I see," said Laika. "So, I heard you and Neo WWW had a bit of a run in."

Netto blushed, "I really don't want to talk about it," he said.

"Netto, you know you're going to have to fill out a report on it anyways," said Enzan. "It's not like it will stay a secret forever."

Maki giggled. "It was so cool! Did you know that Netto-chan can transform into a navi?"

There was an awkward silence for about a minute. Then Blues spoke up. "Actually, Maki-san, yes we did. All of us can do that."

Maki's eyes widened. "Really?" she gasped.

Rockman giggled. "Yes, Maki-chan. That's why we're all Net Saviors."

Maki hugged Netto around his neck in her excitement. "That is so cool!" she squealed.

"Maki, you're cutting of my air again…" said Netto in a strained voice.

She loosened up but didn't say anything.

Laika looked at Netto. "By the way, Mejin-san said something about data on you and Rockman being stolen. He said it could jeopardize your lives, but when we asked him about it, he said to talk to you two."

Netto turned red. "I, well, we actually," Netto stuttered. "It's complicated," he said finally.

"Care to indulge us?" asked Enzan.

Netto shook his head, "Ask Rockman. It's not my place to explain anything."

"Well Rockman?" asked Searchman.

Rockman shook his head. "I'm sorry, but only if I have to."

Laika and Enzan exchanged looks. "Why all the secrecy Netto?" asked Laika.

Netto avoided his gaze. "None of your business," he muttered.

Laika and Enzan both decided to stop pursuing the matter, maybe they would lighten up when they were out of earshot of his hyperactive cousin.

Netto, Laika and Enzan walked up to Mejin's office at the very top of the building. Maki still was hitching a ride on Netto's back and the ascent up the stairs was less then enjoyable.

/Having fun, Netto-kun/ Rockman asked.

Netto continued to walk up the stairs, trying not to gasp for air, he did have his pride after all. /Yeah, I'm just peachy./ he said sarcastically.

/You don't need to get touchy/ said Rockman.

/Sorry, but I'm not in the best of moods right now. Any idea why your internal clock was messed up/ Netto asked.

/No, all I know was that it was pushed an hour backwards. Do you think that the people who stole the Saito Files cracked them already/ Rockman asked.

Netto shivered involuntarily, Laika and Enzan saw but didn't say anything. /Don't even say that, that would mean they had control over us, something I do not want to happen./

/Netto-kun, do you know that you're the master of understatements/

Netto laughed mentally. /Yeah, but hopefully it was just a fluke./

/I hope so…/ but Rockman sounded very unsure.

They walked into Mejin's office unannounced, not that it mattered because Mejin really didn't care one way or another. Netto let his arms fall and Maki slid from his back, landing on the floor very cat like. Mejin cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"As you all know, some very important documents were stolen yesterday," he said.

Netto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. /Well duh/ he thought.

/Netto-kun, be nice./ reprimanded Rockman.

"So, I wish for you three to be careful as you look up information, I want to trails and nothing being traced back here. Can you handle that?" asked Mejin.

They nodded and Maki quivered with excitement, but she didn't say anything.

"Okay, good luck."

They walked out of his office to a room filled with computers. Netto sat in the one farthest from the door and Enzan and Laika sat on either side of him. Maki took advantage of the seating and jumped in Netto's lap before he could protest.

"So, what are you gonna do?" she asked in an excited whisper.

"Sit here and stare at a computer screen for the next five to ten hours," said Netto, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Enzan actually smiled at Netto's joke. "It's not that bad," he said.

Netto sighed and plugged Rockman into the net. "Yes it is; ten to one we won't find anything and we're really here so Mejin can keep and eye on us until the new Net Mafia can contact us."

Laika shrugged. "Not much we can do about it. So, how about we just try to get some information."

Netto sighed and nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much all we can do." He placed his hands on the keys of the keyboard and started to type, sending Rockman information on where to go in the net.

Rockman nodded and disappeared from the computer. "Where did Rockman go?" asked Maki.

"He went to go try and find where the bad guys are," said Netto.

"Oh," said Maki. "Good luck!" she yelled at the computer.

Not even Laika could keep himself from smiling at that.

Rockman, Blues and Searchman looked high and low for any clues that would help them. But they found nothing that the net team before them hadn't already and if they wanted a low profile the Undernet was out of the question. So, just as Netto had said, it was a ploy to keep them out of trouble until they were contacted.

Maki curled up in Netto's lap and actually fell asleep, during the day. Something Netto had previously thought impossible. As their navi's combed the internet, Laika, Enzan and Netto really couldn't do anything but wait. So the other two decided to make their friend tell them just what exactly was going on.

"Come on Netto, if the files were important enough to steal then why won't you tell us?" asked Enzan.

"Because, I really don't want to and it's more Rockman's place, not mine."

"Netto, it's not fair for you to keep something from us," said Laika.

Netto glared at both of them as best as he could. "Listen, if you really want to know then ask Rockman. I won't say anything else."

Maki groaned and stirred in Netto's lap and he quieted down. "Now, please don't wake her up, I like not having to tell her to stop moving every three seconds."

Inside the internet Blues and Searchman were trying just as hard to make their friend tell his secret.

"Rockman, don't you think we should know what's going on?" asked Blues.

Rockman shook his head. "I really don't want to tell unless I have to. It's just not something I really want to share."

Searchman was hurt even though he didn't say as much. "Rockman, don't you trust us?"

Rockman felt guilty, but he held firm. "Of course I do, it has nothing to do with trust, it has to do with the fact that I don't want to be treated differently."

"Why would we…" Blues started.

"Oh, look, there's some junk data, maybe it was part of the security program!" said Rockman, pointing in a random direction then following his direction.

"He really doesn't want to say anything does he?" asked Searchman.

Blues shook his head. "I guess not."

After searching for hours, Rockman suggested that the humans should go to get something to eat and the navi's should to continue their search. Everyone agreed with the plan and Netto, Laika, Enzan and Maki went to the ice cream stand.

Netto fulfilled his promise to Maki and got her a large vanilla ice cream cone, while he got himself a small strawberry waffle cone. Enzan got a chocolate milkshake and Laika got a fruit parfait. They sat around the table eating their treats and stretching their cramped legs under the spacious seats.

"Wow, I can't believe its four already," said Netto.

Laika took a spoonful of his ice cream and said "I can."

Enzan nodded, "Me too, though I kind of wish we would have found something already."

Netto shrugged, "Well, in the grand tradition of the bad guy's need to gloat I don't think he have long to wait for them to reveal themselves."

Laika have a small laugh with no humor in it, "Very true, Netto."

Maki looked confused, "What do you mean?" she asked.

Netto smiled and took another lick of his cone. "I'll explain it later."

Rockman, Searchman and Blues were slowly working their ways outward to the very edge of the Net Saviors webpage, in hopes of finding something, anything that could help them.

Just when Rockman was about to give up and go back to the PC to wait for Netto-kun a navi appeared in front of him, and smiled. "Hello, Saito Hikari," she said in a smooth voice.

Rockman jumped, "Who are you!" he yelled bringing up his Rock Buster.

The navi smiled, "Now now, no need to get hostile young one."

Rockman looked at her warily and saw that she was dressed in black armor and her hair was tied in a high ponytail sticking out of a helmet that covered her head. She wore a skirt of pointed black armor and black leggings with ankle high boots. She saw Rockman scan her and took a little bow. "My name is Obsidian.EXE. Nice to meet you little hybrid," she winked.

"I'm not a hybrid, I'm a navi, now what do you want?" asked Rockman.

Obsidian chuckled, "Oh, everything. But that's a different story, Saito."

"How do you know?" he asked, "Are you from the net mafia that stole the blueprints?"

"Oh, such a clever little boy!" she said in a fake voice. "Yes, I am, and I must say you and your brother are a lot more intriguing then those old blueprints."

"What do you want with us?" Rockman asked, not bringing down his buster.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question, by the way cutie, happen to know what time it is?" she asked.

Rockman started to shake slightly, "So that was you," he whispered.

"Cute little prank wasn't it? Glad to know it worked, I wonder how much we can do now that we know our little program is successful?" she smiled cruelly.

"Wh-what are you trying to do?" Rockman yelled, he was now visibly shaking, he knew that he and Netto were in great danger.

Obsidian disappeared and reappeared behind Rockman. "You'll see very soon," she whispered in his ear before disappearing for good.

Rockman let go of his buster and let his arm slowly reform as he sunk to the ground. "I can't believe it," he said.

Searchman and Blues came out of the shadows to help their friend. They supported Rockman as he had his silent breakdown and when he finally seemed to gain a little grip on reality Blues asked, "So what was that about, Rockman?"

Netto threw away the napkin that his cone was in when Rockman's fear twisted in his stomach. He knew something was wrong but the distance for him to connect directly with his twin's thoughts was too great. Slowly the feeling in his stomach increased until he was barely able to stand up.

Laika and Enzan saw Netto grab onto the fence and sink to the ground clutching his stomach. "Netto!" they both yelled and ran to their friend.

Maki was there first and she looked at him with a worried look on her face, "What's wrong Netto-chan?"

Netto grimaced as his pain gave another twist of fear and the ice-cream that was inside churned uncomfortably. "I don't know," he said.

Laika and Enzan helped him up and Netto made a dash for the bathroom that was on the side of the ice-cream stand. He ran inside and the next attack forced him to empty the contents of his stomach. He sat gasping over the toilet and tried to contact his twin.

/Rockman, what's wrong/ he called out, but he heard nothing.

"Netto, are you okay?" asked Laika.

Netto blinked and stood up, flushing the toilet. "Y-yeah, I think so." He came out and washed his hands.

Laika handed him a cup of water which Netto took gratefully. "Thanks," he said hoarsely.

"What happened?" asked Laika.

Netto shook his head. "I have no idea, is Maki…"

"She's outside with Enzan," said Laika.

Just then a mental attack came on Netto. /Netto-kun/ Rockman's voice was loud and clear, almost making Netto grimace.

/Rockman, what happened? You had some kind of panic attack or something./

/Netto-kun, the net mafia that stole those blueprints yesterday, they cracked the Saito Files and they can control me. They were the ones who changed my internal clock this morning/

Netto's eyes widened and Laika looked at him strangely but Netto ignored him. /Are you sure? Who was it/

/Of course I'm sure, and she said her name was Obsidian. Netto-kun, Blues and Searchman heard everything, you need to get back here./ he said, sounding a little more rational.

/Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes/ Netto replied.

Laika waved a hand in front of Netto's face. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Netto blinked and looked at him. "Yeah, I'm fine, but we need to get back to Net Saviors HQ, after I drop Maki-chan back at home."

After much protesting Netto had finally managed to get Maki-chan back into his house with Sakura and Haruka. He was grateful that they were home and that he didn't need to explain something like that to her, now hopefully she wouldn't say that he got sick; or his mom would come after him with a thermometer, even though she knew the reason.

Laika and Enzan walked to the HQ in silence, they didn't need to press for something that they knew would be explained in due time. They were just worried about their friend's obvious problems, they weren't quite sure what triggered such a violent reaction in Netto's body but it was obvious he wasn't sick.

Netto, Laika and Enzan walked into the computer room where Rockman was sitting miserably in his computer with Searchman and Blues standing on either side of him. When Rockman saw them approaching he looked relived. "Netto-kun, I'm so sorry," he said.

Netto smiled, "Nah, its okay, it's not your fault."

Enzan and Laika looked puzzled; Blues and Searchman however had more of a grasp on the situation from what they had overheard. "So, you two are brothers then?" asked Blues.

Laika and Enzan looked very surprised but didn't say anything. Netto whistled, "Wow, you two heard a lot huh?"

Blues smiled wryly, "You could say that. Care to explain?"

Netto smiled and shook his head. "I still stand by what I said before, Rockman will explain, it's mostly his secret anyway."

Rockman smiled gratefully, "Thanks Netto-kun."

Netto smiled, "Just try not to freak out like that again, I don't think my body handled that very well."

Rockman laughed and Netto felt considerable tension leave the link. He gave a sigh of relief as Rockman finally relaxed.

"Okay, I get the whole bond thing, but will someone please explain what's going on?" asked Enzan.

Rockman sighed, "Want the long version or the short version?" he asked.

"I'd go with the long," said Laika patiently.

"Okay, well bluntly put, Netto-kun and I are twins," said Rockman.

All eyes turned towards Netto for a second before going back to Rockman.

"What happened was when I was a baby, about 18 months old; I died of a heart condition called HBD. Papa took my DNA, de-synced it from Netto's by 0.001 and turned it into data, creating well, me from it." Rockman sighed and scratched his head. "It's really complicated, should I go on?"

"Please, this is fascinating," said Enzan.

Netto giggled softly and Rockman continued. "Okay, so about five months ago?" Rockman looked at Netto.

"Yeah, I'd say about that much," Netto answered.

"Yeah, five months ago, I got infected with a computer virus. It was really bad and almost completely deleted me. That was when we couldn't do anything because Netto was sick for about a week."

Blues blinked, even though no one could see it. "I remember that, you two missed out on one of Narcy's schemes."

Netto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I don't think I minded that."

Rockman cleared his throat, "Anyway, papa said that I could be saved if Netto agreed to let papa re-synch our DNA, which then in turn helped clear the virus out of my system."

Searchman looked puzzled. "How?" he asked.

Netto groaned, "Don't ask. I asked papa and I did not understand a word he said."

Rockman laughed, "Well, simply put, having Netto-kun's human immune system synched to mine actually allowed him to help me fight off the computer virus."

Netto's eyes widened, "So that's what he meant! Geez, why couldn't he just say that?" Netto muttered.

"Well, papa likes to explain things very thoroughly. I guess it comes from being a scientist."

Enzan blinked, "So, Netto was infected with a computer virus?"

Netto and Rockman were silent for a minute, "I guess so, never really thought about it that way," said Netto.

"You wouldn't," said Enzan.

"And what's what supposed to mean?" asked Netto, a little angrily.

"Nothing. So, is that it?" Enzan asked.

Rockman nodded, "Pretty much, everything that I just told you is what was stolen that Mejin referred to."

"So, you were so scared that you actually made Netto sick?" Laika asked, amazed.

"Eh, Netto-kun got sick?" Rockman said surprised.

Netto groaned, and shot Laika a dirty look. "I'm fine Rockman; I don't blame you for freaking out."

"But," Rockman started.

Netto shook his head. "Please, drop it."

Rockman sighed, "All right, so anyone want to go to Mejin to explain our little run in?"

"I vote Enzan to go!" said Netto.

"Hey, not fair," said Enzan.

Laika smiled, "I vote Enzan too."

Rockman giggled, "Okay, I agree with Netto-kun."

Searchman nodded his consent and Blues smiled, it was rare when he could joke around with his operator. "I agree with everyone else."

Enzan glared at them. "Fine, but after this, Netto, you're coming over my house and explaining a few more things."

Netto shrugged, "All right, but be fast, the sun's going down."

Enzan muttered on his way out to report the news to the less then thrilled Mejin-san.


	5. Pancakes

About two hours after Netto's designated curfew he went into his house as quietly as he possibly could, maybe his mom didn't notice. As soon as the door shut with a quiet click a light turned on and Netto turned to face a very upset Haruka and Maki.

"Uh oh…" he said quietly.

/This is your fault, I told you not to stay at Enzan's so long/ Rockman scolded his twin.

/But they were ruthless, what was I suppoused to do, run away/

/Who are you scared of more, Enzan and Laika or Mom and Maki./

/Really? Mom, over everyone./ Netto paused/Oh, I see your point./

"Just where have you been young man?" Haruka asked in a harsh tone.

"Well, Enzan invited me over and we kinda lost track of time…" Netto laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

/That is the lamest…/

/Rockman, shut up…/

To the twin's surprise, Haruka's gaze softened. "Oh, so you were with Enzan-kun?"

Netto sensed an opening and took it, "Yes! And Laika too. They wanted to talk for a bit," Netto smiled.

"That's nice; those boys need to be more social." Haruka smiled, "Well, since you were with your friends I guess I can let it go this once. But don't push your luck again."

Netto nodded, "Yes mom."

"Also, you're Aunt and I are going to the Hot Springs tomorrow, so can you watch Maki for us?" Haruka added.

Netto nodded fervently. "Of course! I'm not doing much at Net Saviors HQ so I can just tell Mejin I'm babysitting."

"Okay, we'll probably be gone by the time you wake up tomorrow, so please get Maki up and ready. We'll be home around 10, can you two handle it?" Haruka asked.

Netto nodded, "Of course! Leave it to me!"

Haruka nodded and left the room, leaving Netto with a none too happy Maki. "Hey, Netto-chan! Why did you leave me here today!" she said.

Netto blinked, he forgot Maki was even there, he was too busy celebrating his day of non deskwork. "I uhh…"

Maki crosser her arms over her chest and pouted, making Netto sweat a little. "Don't you like me?" she asked.

"Wh-what? Of course I do! What kind of question is that?" Netto said, quickly bending down to his cousin's level.

"Really? Then why did you leave me here?" she said.

"I had to take care of something, I didn't want to drag you along…" Netto started.

"So you don't trust me?" she said, her eyes started to water.

"What! I never said that…" Netto said quickly.

"Uwahhhh, Netto-chan doesn't like me!" she said in a loud voice.

"Ah, ah, Maki-chan, shhhh! I never said that, I like you very much! Please, stop crying," he said desperately.

/Oh yeah, one heck of a babysitter you are/ chided Rockman.

/Okay, you either help or stay out of this/ Netto replied, a little irked.

"And Netto-chan doesn't even love me enough to let me sleep in his bed, I bet he doesn't even care that I get lonely and scared at night," Maki continued.

"Maki, of course I do. Please stop crying," Netto said, trying to hush his cousin up.

Maki looked up at her cousin though the fake tears and grinned, "So I can sleep with you again tonight?" she asked in a voice with a few hiccups for good measure.

"Ummm, well Maki, I don't think…" Netto saw Maki's eyes fill with tears again and he help up his hands, "All right, all right, you can again tonight."

"Every night?" she asked.

"Maki, I don't think that's a good idea…"

"You don't love me?" she asked again.

"Wh-wha? W-wait, I never said that!"

"So I can sleep with you whenever?" she asked.

"I-I guess…" Netto said hesitantly.

"Wai!" Maki threw her arms in the air and ran upstairs.

"Rockman, what just happened?" asked a stunned Netto.

"You got played like a harp by a five year old," laughed Rockman.

Netto let his head fall. "Ugh, she's really good at that huh?"

Rockman smiled, "Yeah, five years olds can be very manipulative."

Netto got into his pajamas and went into his room, finding Maki half asleep on his bed. Netto smiled and put Rockman's PET into it's holder by the computer, turning on the stasis program. "Night Rockman," he said.

"Night Netto-kun," he said back.

Netto went over to Maki who was sprawled out on the bed and picked her up and pulled back the covers allowing both of them to slide in between the sheets without being uncomfortable. He pulled the sheets up to Maki's chin and whispered "Goodnight, Maki-chan."

Maki nodded and curled up into Netto's arms, "Night-night Netto-chan, promise tomorrow is just us?"

Netto nodded and yawned, "Yeup, I promise."

"Good, night-night Rockman-chan," she said quietly.

"Night Maki-chan. Have good dreams," he said.

"Thanks you too, and Net-chan, you have good dreams too."

"I will, now go to bed."

"Okay, night-night Netto-chan and Rockman-chan."

Netto and Rockman sighed, "Good night Maki-chan."

"Have good dreams too!"

"Maki-chan, just go to bed," they said to her simultaneously.

"Okay okay, jeez, night-night."

Netto and Rockman rolled their eyes and didn't reply.

"Are you there? I said night-night…" Maki said.

"Maki, night-night and go to bed," said Netto.

"Okay," Maki shut her eyes and curled into Netto's arms. "Night-night everyone."

/That took forever…/

Rockman giggled mentally/Night-night Netto-kun/ he said.

/Shut up/ Netto cut off the thought connection and went to sleep.

A shadow left the PC in the Hikari residence and Obsidian prepared to deliver the latest bit of news to her boss. "Night-night, Hikari twins," she laughed.

Mejin appeared in Maha-ichiban that night right before it closed. Mahajorama heard the small bell ring and called out, "Welcome, we are about to close but you have enough time for one bowl, may I suggest the spicy pork cu…" he turned around and saw who it was. "Well well, what brings you here?" he asked.

"Some very important matters let me assure you. Is your apprentice present?" Mejin asked.

"Dekao-kun? No, he and his navi are out getting this week's order of spices. How can I be of service?" he asked.

"Where are your other subordinates?" Mejin asked.

"In the back room, what's this about?" he asked, getting a little suspicious of the Net Savior leader.

"Take me there and I'll tell you."

Mahajorama nodded and motioned for him to follow. He opened a door behind the kitchen that let them in on a little rec room where Madoi, Elec Hakushaku and Hinoken were playing a racing video game of some sort with their navi's cheering them on.

"Go Madoi!" Coloredman cheered as she cut Hinoken and Elec Hakushaku off in one move.

Mahajorama cleared his throat and brought all attention to himself and Mejin. "We have a guest," he said.

Madoi stood up and dusted off her pants. "Hey, Mejin long time no see," she said. "What brings you here?" she asked.

"Very pressing news, I'm afraid. We have a new net mafia and I'd like to ask for your help."

Hinoken laughed, "We're convicted criminals. Since when do you need our help?"

"Since Hikari Netto's and Rockman's lives are in danger."

He heard a gasp from Madoi and smiled. "Do I have your interest?"

"What did they do this time?" Elecman asked.

Mejin shook his head, "Nothing, in fact what happened wasn't their fault by any means. However, what I'm about to tell you must never leave this room, understand? Netto-kun and Rockman are going to get very upset at me for telling you this, but I see no other way. I can't watch them all the time and I know against most everyone's judgment that he trusts you. Will you help?"

Hinoken was the first to answer, "Of course, now what's wrong."

"Some very important papers were stolen yesterday and some very important files were taken as well. Can I trust you all to keep this to yourselves?" Mejin asked.

"What about their friends?" asked Magicman.

"Dekao and Gutsman? No, Netto-kun and Rockman have the right to tell them when they see fit. The only reason I'm telling you is to make sure a repeat of what happened today doesn't happen again."

"We promise we won't say anything, now tell us what's so damn important!" said Madoi.

Mejin sighed and told the story, making sure that nothing was left out. When he finished he looked at the stunned ex-WWW members. "Can I trust you?"

Madoi smiled shakily, "Yeah, just tell us where and when."

"As soon as possible at Net Saviors HQ."

"We'll be there tomorrow," said Mahajorama.

A thunderstorm started up later that night causing Maki to wake up, in an alien bed and terrified to within an inch of her life.

Netto groaned and put his arms around the shaking body. "Maki-chan, it's just a thunderstorm, go back to sleep."

Maki hesitated then snuggled deeper into the sheets apprehensively. Just a thunderstorm? She wasn't too sure.

Maki woke up the next morning curled in Netto's arms. She shifted gently and Netto stirred and groaned in his sleep. "Netto-kun is the world's heaviest sleeper," came Rockman's voice from the computer. "You can get up now Maki-chan."

Maki grinned at Rockman, but she had other ideas. She broke herself from Netto's embrace and stood up on the bed.

Rockman immediately understood what she was going to do. "Maki-chan, I don't think that's a good idea," he said.

Maki ignored him and dive-bombed Netto, right in the stomach. Netto was jolted awake by the sudden extra weight and he sat up gasping. Maki jumped to the floor giggling and ran out of the room before Netto could yell at her.

Netto watched her run out the door, somewhat stunned. Rockman giggles, "I tried to stop her," he said.

Netto glared at Rockman and sat up, "Gee some security you are," he scoffed.

Rockman shrugged, "I swear Netto, she's like a ninja," he joked.

Netto muttered and got out of bed, he grabbed his clothes from his dresser and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Maki came back in and sat on Netto's bed, waiting for Netto come back in. "Where's Netto-chan?" she asked.

"He's getting dressed. He'll be back in here in a few minutes," Rockman said.

"Was Netto-chan upset?" asked Maki.

"Nah, he's just not a morning person. He'll be happy and hyper in a few minutes," Rockman winked at Maki.

Maki giggled and Netto walked into the room tying back his messy brown hair with his powder blue bandana. "What about me?" he asked.

"We were just talking about how crabby you are," said Rockman.

Netto crossed his arms, "I am not," he said.

Maki laughed and catapulted herself from Netto's bed on to Netto's back, latching herself on for a piggy back ride. "Yes you are," she said.

Netto was almost knocked down from the force behind the jump and it took most of his self control to just stat breathing properly again. "Whatever," he breathed and carried his cousin downstairs to the kitchen.

"Netto-chan, are we going to the big building again today?" Maki asked.

Netto shook his head and said, "Nope, it's just you and me today. Rockman called me off from duty, right Rockman?" Netto called out.

Rockman appeared in the kitchen monitor and gave Netto a thumbs up, "All done Netto-kun."

"See?" Netto said to Maki, "So what do you want to do?" he asked.

Maki put a finger on her lips and adopted a thoughtful look on her face. "I want tooooo… make pancakes!" she said brightly.

Rockman could immediately sense the impending doom. "Maki-chan, that might not be the best idea," he said.

Maki crossed her arms, "But I want to make pancakes!" she said sticking out her lower lip.

"Well, I just meant that it might be a bit messy…" Rockman started.

Netto cut him off, "Ah, its okay Maki-chan, we'll make pancakes."

Maki threw her arms into the air in celebration. "Yay!" she said.

/Netto-kun, this is just begging for disaster/ Rockman said.

/You worry too much, what could go wrong/ Netto asked.

/Many, many, many things/ Rockman groaned.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WWW, Enzan and Laika sat around a long wooden table with Mejin at the head. Mejin looked at his watch for the third time in the past ten seconds. "Where is he?" he asked.

"Sleeping?" Enzan offered.

"Most likely," Laika said.

Madoi laughed, "Good to know some things never change."

"Well can't you just call them?" asked Blues.

"Rockman's not in his PET, I tried earlier," Mejin replied.

"That's unusual, Rockman's always in his PET," said Enzan.

"Do you think something could have happened?" asked Fireman.

That question hung heavily in the air for a few minutes while everyone thought it over. "Should we go check?" asked Elecman.

"Well if something really did happen, and I'm not saying it did," said Mejin, "I could be a trap."

Enzan grabbed his PET from its port in the conference table, "I don't care, if he's in trouble we need to help him, and if he's not then he will be."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto went around the kitchen and began to take things out of various cupboards carefully following the directions in his mother's cook book. Maki and Netto had on aprons and put all the ingredients around the large blue porcelain bowl they were going to mix it in. Rockman hesitantly regulated the heat under the frying pan to what the directions said and the flame low so as to make sure neither one got hurt. Netto sensed Rockman's worry early on.

/Relax, nothing will happen, I know how to make pancakes you know/ he said.

/Yeah, but never with a five year old before/ countered Rockman.

/So? It's not like she's going to blow up the kitchen/ Netto said.

Rockman wasn't so sure.

After the eggs, flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, water and vanilla was added Netto let Maki take over the mixing. He had enough sense to not let her use and automatic mixer, and Maki didn't make too much of a mess, to the very great relief of Rockman. However the sticky batter still did splatter over the sides and on the counter and some mysteriously found its way into Maki's hair.

Netto laughed and took over after awhile, stirring the batter until the lumps were gone. Then he took out a cup and poured some of the batter into the frying pan.

"Wait Netto-kun! You didn't spray the frying pan!" Rockman yelled.

"Oops," said Netto and he set to work trying to scrape the burnt gooey mess off the pan and into the sink.

Rockman groaned and prepared to lecture Netto when the door bell rang. Rockman left the kitchen monitor and appeared in the entry way monitor. "Who's there?" he asked.

"Rockman?" asked a voice.

"Laika-san? What are you doing here?" asked Rockman.

"Coming to make sure nothing happened to you. What are you still doing here?" he asked.

"I called us off today," said Rockman. "Netto-kun has to baby-sit Maki-chan all day."

"It would have been nice if Mejin told us that," said Enzan a little peeved.

"Sorry guys, why don't you come in? The door's unlocked," Rockman said.

Enzan opened the door and the odd group walked inside. They heard a cheer coming from the kitchen and everyone walked over cautiously.

"Be careful," Rockman warned them.

Everyone stopped dead at the entrance of the kitchen. It looked like a war zone, flour was everywhere and there was a concentrated amount of batter on the counter top. In the center of it all was Netto and Maki who were over the frying pan making decent looking pancakes, save the smoldering mess in the sink.

Madoi put a hand over her mouth and immediately began cracking up. Netto looked over in their direction and at first his eyes lit with puzzlement. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Mejin didn't get your message apparently," Enzan said dryly.

"Oh, well I'm with Maki-chan all day," he said.

Maki crossed her arms, "That's right; Netto-chan is with me today! He promised!"

Netto blushed and in all the confusion forgot that there was a pancake in the pan until it started to smoke. "Netto-kun, watch it!" said Rockman.

Netto looked at the blackened pancake and quickly flipped it before it could catch fire.

Madoi smiled and said, "Don't worry, we're just here to give him a message, he's all yours today."

Maki gave Madoi a big grin and nodded at her. Netto blushed even more and said, "Maki you should go take a shower, when you come downstairs you can have breakfast."

"'Kay!" Maki said and ran upstairs.

Madoi chuckles, "You should take a shower too," she said to Netto eyeing the flower in his hair.

Netto glared at her and started to put the dirty dishes in the sink. "What are you doing here?" he asked, ignoring Madoi's comment.

"Well, we're supposed to help you find the new bad guys," said Hinoken.

"I'm watching my cousin," said Netto.

"Ne noticed," said Mahajorama, grinning ever so slightly.

Netto sighed, "Let me clean up in here, you guys can wait in the living room."

Once they were in the living room Madoi started to crack up even more. "And to think he was our worst enemy!"

"I heard that!" Netto called.

Netto finished cleaning the kitchen when Maki finished her shower. Netto had managed to clean himself up pretty well as well as clean up most of the kitchen. Netto placed a plate of pancakes on the table and went into the living room, but before he could sit down Maki called, "Netto-chan?"

"Yes?" he answered.

"Can you cut this for me?" she asked.

"Uhhhh, sure," he said and walked over to the table. He cut the pancakes into small pieces and handed the fork back to Maki. "Here you go," he said.

"Thanks!" she said and started to gobble down her breakfast.

Netto walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch, "So why are you here?" he asked.

"Apparently, Mejin-san never got our message," said Rockman.

"Oh, well I can't go anywhere because I'm watching Maki-chan and mama is at the onsen with aunt Sakura.

"How about we research here then?" Madoi asked. "A day off; even though we're at work."

Netto laughed, "That's a great idea. But we're not going to do much," he said.

"It's okay, I think everyone deserves a break," she said.

Enzan scoffed, "You haven't even done anything!" he said.

Netto laughed again, "Who cares?"

Hinoken nodded, "I agree with Netto."

Enzan shook his head, "We should be out there," he said.

"Well, until there is a lead, it's not like we can find anything," Netto answered.

"So let's wait until there is an opportunity," Elecman said. "It's not like we can do anything, but we should tell Mejin."

"Already done," said Elec Hakushaku.

"My e-mail?" Enzan asked.

Elec Hakushaku nodded.

"What is he doesn't get it?" Enzan asked.

"Then it teaches him to read his e-mail," said Netto.

Rockman nodded, "I agree."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Newest chapter! Hope you liked!


	6. Alone

While everyone was resting at Netto's house Obsidian decided she had other plans. "Time to see what we can really do," she smiled and looked up at the rather large stone tablet in front of her. It was written in a long dead language but the person who she was stealing it for knew exactly how to read it.

She took it to where the agreed drop off point was and put it into a cushioned box. "Well done, dear," said a cool voice behind her.

Obsidian turned around to see Nova walking with prestige towards her. Her normally cold features broke into a warm grin. "My love, how nice it is to see you again."

Nova nodded, his own features warming up as well. "I agree this mission keeps us from each other too long."

Obsidian played with the white cape that dangled from his white armor. She always thought he looked like an angel, but few did know the danger that lay beneath the handsome mask. "Shall we take this elsewhere?" she purred.

Nova shook his head, "As much as it pains me to say this, we must finish what we started. I'm sure the net saviors will be at the museum any minute now."

Obsidian chuckled, "And I have that all covered, dear. I'll go back when I'm needed which won't be for awhile yet."

Nova raised an eyebrow, "Is that so?" He scooped her up as an old fashioned couple would. "Now what were you saying earlier?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto and Maki were in a heated battle of Candyland when his PET rang. "Yes, what is it?" Netto asked a little crossly. "You know it's my day off don't you?"

"Netto-kun, Laika-kun, Enzan-kun the Densan Museum was just robbed," Mejin said in a tight voice. "You need to get down there now."

Netto's knuckles went white as he gripped the PET. "Damnit," he hissed.

Madoi put her hand on his shoulder, "This sounds like your work, kid. We can watch your cousin."

Netto looked at her, "You can?"

Mejin nodded, "Good, okay you three get down there as quickly as possible. There's something about what they stole that makes me uneasy," and before anyone could ask what he meant, the PET screen went blank.

"Nothing like giving a little detail," said Enzan sarcastically.

"No kidding," Hinoken said.

Netto knelt down to Maki's level and Maki threw her arms around him. "You can't go, you promised!" she said.

Netto pulled her arms off of him and held her hands in his own. "I know, and I'm really sorry but we can't stay. Maki-chan, you need to stay here and be a good girl, okay?"

Maki sniffled and nodded, "Okay."

"Don't worry, we'll be back in a few hours," Rockman said.

Maki nodded again but didn't say anything.

Netto stood up and followed Laika and Enzan out the door. "Bye!" he waved and shut the door.

"Bye, Netto-chan," Maki sniffled.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Oh man, mom is so gonna kill me if I'm not back before she is," Netto said.

"Don't worry, we'll wrap this up in a few hours and be back before dinner," Enzan said.

"You better be right or I'll be grounded till the end of the week," he said.

"At least we'll know where you are," Laika attempted a joke.

"Ha ha, very funny," Netto said dryly.

They continued to run towards the Museum which wasn't far away from Netto's house. "So, what do you think they stole?" asked Laika.

"Some kind of ancient artifact? It is a museum you know," Netto pointed out.

Enzan and Laika shrugged, "Why don't we worry about that after we get to the museum," said Blues.

"I agree with Blues," said Rockman. "We need to see what happened first, then we can try and guess what the enemy is doing."

"What enemy is it?" asked Enzan. "This doesn't have the same kind of feel that a Neo WWW crime does. Could it be that Obsidian person?"

They all pondered this in silence as they ran to the museum.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Back at Netto's place, the members of WWW were desperately trying to cheer Maki up. "It's okay, they'll be back in a few hours at the most," said Madoi.

"But Netto-chan promised me that today would be just us!" Maki said. "Why did you guys have to come?"

The four adults and their navi's were taken aback.

"Netto-chan used to just play with me when I came over to visit, but now he has a bunch of other people come over every day and we don't get to play alone anymore. It's not fair!" Maki huffed and crossed her arms.

"Ah, well. Netto just has new responsibilities right now," said Mahajorama, always the diplomat.

"So? I was his responsibility today, mama said so!" Maki said.

"Can't argue with that." Elec Hakushaku shrugged.

Madoi elbowed him in the stomach and said, "Hush."

"Why won't Netto-chan just stay with me?" Maki asked.

"I don't think he has much choice in the matter," said Hinoken. "He does things that are important and needed, especially because they're important."

"Like being a super hero?" Maki asked.

Everyone blinked and Madoi tried desperately not to burst out laughing. "I never thought about it like that," she said, suppressing her laughter.

Mahajorama did not laugh but instead nodded, "Yes, just like that."

Maki gave him a broad grin and ran upstairs. "What are you doing?" Madoi called.

"I'm gonna see if I can try and help Netto-chan," she said and ran into Netto's room slamming the door behind her.

Madoi made to follow her but Mahajorama placed his hand on her shoulder. "Let her go, she probably is going to play with the computer or something."

Madoi sighed, "If you say so," she said doubtfully.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto, Enzan and Laika all went into the museum. To their very great surprise no one came out to greet them or show them to the site of the crime. In fact, no one was there at all.

"Hello?" Netto called out.

"This smells like a trap," said Enzan.

"Smells like? You need some new lines," Netto laughed.

Enzan gave him a withering look but didn't retort.

"Over here," said Laika motioning then towards a room. Enzan and Netto went over and followed their friend inside.

"What is it?" asked Netto.

Laika pointed towards the rather obvious smashed case and glass on the floor. "Not very observant are you Netto-kun," Rockman said.

"Sh-shut up," said Netto going red.

Enzan and Laika both got a grin out of that but before they could add their own comments they heard a crash from the hall way. They ran out of the room without a word and looked for whatever caused the loud noise. "Who's there?" said Netto.

A small girl that looked no older then Maki stood there. She had large white pupil-less eyes and was dressed in a pale grey battle suit. Her hair stuck out in a short pony tail from hinder her helmet. But it wasn't her appearance or her age that seemed the most odd about her, it was the fact that they could see right through her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Madoi looked at the closed door. "She's too quiet. Something is wrong," Madoi said.

"Relax, you're just being paranoid," said Elecman.

"I agree," Elec Hakushaku said.

Madoi cast another uneasy glance at the door. "I'm not so sure." She got up and walked upstairs, then knocked on the door. "Hey, Maki-chan are you in there?" she asked.

There was no reply and Madoi knocked again. "Hello?" she called.

When there was no reply a second time she opened the door and went inside. The other Neo WWW members looked at the empty hallway getting a little nervous. A minute later Madoi came running back out, "She ran away!" she yelled.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Maki remembered where the museum was. Her mom took her there a long time ago but she had lots of pictures from the time. A lamp post here and a tourist shop there, they were all in the snapshots that she always looked at. She slowly walked down the third block being very careful to look both ways. Then right in front of her loomed a giant marble building with the words, 'Densan History Museum' on it. Maki grinned and ran towards the big building and ignored the caution tape placed in front of the doors.

She was going to find Netto-chan!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The three Net Saviors looked at the ghostly like navi. "Um, hi? Did you make that noise?" asked Netto, unsure of what to say.

The girl nodded, not saying a word.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

This time the girl shook her head.

Netto frowned, "Well, what's wrong?" he asked.

He lips trembled, "I'm…" she whispered. "I'm alone."

"Netto-kun, she's not a normal navi," Rockman warned.

"I think I guessed that," said Netto.

"I…" she started to speak again, and all attention was brought back to her. "I don't want to be alone."

/What do I say/ Netto thought desperately.

/I don't know, how about we figure out what she is first/ said Rockman.

The girl looked straight at Netto and Rockman as they exchanged thoughts. "You… talked?" she asked, her expression not changing one bit.

"Uhhh," Neither Netto nor Rockman had any good reply to that question.

"You what?" asked Enzan.

"Don't ask," said Netto.

The girl kept on looking at them, and the room started to gather a haze. The misty swirls traveled on the floor and started to fill to room. Meanwhile the girl's appearance started to become more and more solid.

The white tendrils were by no means solid but they seemed to almost anchor them in place.

"I don't want to be alone," the girl repeated.

Netto started to feel very sleepy and couldn't figure out what was going on. "What is she doing?" he asked while trying to stay awake.

"I… don't know," said Enzan who sounded like he was having the same problems as Netto.

"Don't lave me alone," the girl said.

Netto wanted to reply but whatever was making him sleepy finally won and he collapsed into the mist.

"I'm scared," said the girl, and that was the last thing Netto heard before he lost consciousness.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Maki ran into the main hall and started to call out, "Netto-chan!" but only her voice greeted her in return.

Maki ran down the hall and peeked into the empty rooms, "Netto-chan?" she asked to the air.

WWW was not far behind her and ran into the building only minutes after she did. "Where is she?" Madoi asked, almost in a panic.

"Where is anyone?" asked Hinoken, puzzled by the absence of the obvious things like guards and a curator.

"We don't have time to worry about that, we need to find the girl before she gets into trouble," said Madoi.

"NETTO-CHAN!" they heard a voice scream from the far left of the main room.

"Damn it!" said Madoi and took off after the voice at a sprint.

They ran into the room where they heard Maki's voice come from and stopped dead. Maki was shaking Netto's unmoving body and sobbing. "Netto-chan won't wake up," she said.

Madoi quickly knelt beside her and places her fingers on the side of Netto's neck. She found a strong pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. "It's okay, he's just unconscious."

Mahajorama knelt by Enzan's body and felt for his pulse too. "They all are, but there are no signs of a fight. What happened?" he asked.

Hinoken noticed something else odd, "Their PET's don't have their navi's in them. What's going on here?"

Before anyone could answer a pearly mist started to flood the room again. "I'm alone," a voice said.

They all looked to where the voice came from and saw the same ghostly navi that Netto, Laika and Enzan had.

"W-who's that…" Maki asked in a quivery voice.

"I don't want to be alone," the girl said and the mist flooded the room.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

So creepy. Ugh, I got shivers writing this. Bwahahaha! Fear the cliffhanger, fear it I say! Also review and I'll update faster. Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Maki short but so very creepy.

Yay! I can actually write something besides humor! Woot! Go me! Okay I'm done bragging already.


	7. Tag

Maki woke up to the feeling of grass in between her fingers. She sat up and looked around groggily. She was on a grassy hill that overlooked the perfect bluest lake Maki had ever seen. She yawned and looked around on the ground to see everyone but Netto and Rockman lying sprawled in the grass.

She went over to Enzan and shook his shoulder to get him to wake up. "Enzan-chan?" she asked.

Enzan groaned and pushed himself off the ground. "What the… grass?" he asked himself. "Maki-chan?" he looked at the puzzled five year old.

"Where are we, Enzan-chan?" she asked.

"I… don't know," Enzan took a pan of his surroundings and what he saw made his blood run cold. "Blues!" he said.

Blues was lying not two feet away from where Enzan was. At the call of his name Blues stirred and groggily pushed himself up. "Enzan-sama?" he asked.

Now that there had been conversation everyone was starting to get up and everyone was very surprised with what they saw. "How could this happen?" asked Elec Hakushaku.

"I have no idea," said Madoi.

Everyone started to speculate amongst themselves and Maki took another take in of her surroundings. "Where's Netto-chan?" she asked.

Enzan looked around in a slight panic and noticed that neither Netto nor Rockman was with them. "Oh my god," he said.

Maki drew her arms across her body and started to shiver, "Where is Netto-chan?" she asked again.

No one could answer her and she looked like she was going to sit on the ground and start crying. Madoi noticed and went over to her, putting her arms around the small child. "Shush shush," she said trying to soothe Maki.

Maki buried her face into Madoi's neck and started to cry. While everyone's attention was focused on Maki a stranger slipped into their midst.

Blues was the first one to notice the alien presence. He turned around to see the small navi child right behind him. Only she was solid and her hair moved with the breeze that flowed through wherever they were. "Why are you and where did you take us?" he asked.

Everyone looked up at Blues and followed his gaze. The small girl looked up at Blues and her blank expression made him shiver. "I am Dream," she said in a soft voice.

Maki sniffled and broke from Madoi's embrace. She walked right up to the navi and smiled as brightly as she could given the circumstances. "Hi Dream, my name's Maki, nice to meet cha," she said and extended her hand.

Dream looked at Maki's hand then at Maki, "Nice to meet you," she said and hesitantly took Maki's hand. Maki gave it a firm five year old shake and dropped Dream's hand. Dream looked surprised but didn't say anything else.

"Dream-chan, can you help us find some people?" Maki asked.

WWW, Enzan and Laika and their navi's watched with wonder as Maki slowly got the child to open up.

Dream nodded slowly, "Who are you looking for?" she asked.

"My cousin Netto-chan and his navi. He's missing and I want to find him," said Maki her sniffles returning.

Long dormant emotions rose in Dream's chest as she saw Maki start to cry. "Are they the brown haired one's that look alike?" she asked.

Maki gave her a puzzled look, "Netto-chan has brown hair, but not Rockman. Rockman has blue hair."

It was Dream's turn to look puzzled. Searchman seemed to finally realize what was going on, "Wait, you mean that you've seen twins here?" he asked quickly.

Dream nodded, "Yes, two brown haired ones, they're over there," she motioned to a hill behind her.

"Twins?" Maki asked and Enzan nodded.

"For now just go with it," he said. "We'll explain things after we find Netto and Rockman."

Maki was very confused but she showed a rare moment of maturity for a five year old and went with it. Anything to get her back with Netto-chan.

Dream led them to the far hill and they walked inside of a large thick forest that seemingly came out of nowhere. They came into a small clearing and everyone stopped dead.

"What the hell?" Hinoken said.

"I've come to the strong conclusion that we're not on earth anymore," murmured Enzan in an almost state of shock.

"I second that," said Laika.

"Netto-chan," Maki breathed.

In front of them was a mass of thorns and vines that created an almost cylinder running horizontally through the forest. In the middle, tied together and seemingly unconscious was Netto and Rockman. Or more correctly, Netto and Saito.

Rockman's appearance took on one identical to Netto's in the world that they were in. He was dressed in a dark blue vest where as Netto's was still orange but aside from that they could have been twins.

They were twins.

"You friends are caught inside their own link," Dream said.

Enzan looked back to Netto and Rockman then looked at Dream. "Wait, that thing is their link? You trapped them inside their own link?" he asked, enraged.

Everyone but Maki knew what he was talking about, and Maki wasn't listening. She ran towards the cylinder of thorns and tried to get inside. They twisted and blocked her way, but never hurt her in the process, yet she still persistently tried while Dream talked to everyone else.

"No, I did not trap them there. I was told to bring you here to my world but I did not have a hand in what happened after wards. I just didn't want to be alone," she said her voice breaking and starting to show emotion. "I was alone," she whispered.

"Who, who told you to bring us here?" asked Enzan.

"A tall dark woman who came to me. She said I didn't deserve to be alone and gave me one chance to project myself in the real world," Dream started to cry. It was an odd thing, to see a navi cry.

Maki would have been there to comfort her but she was too busy trying to save Netto and who she understood to be Rockman. "Netto-chan!" she yelled.

Enzan stopped interrogating Dream and looked at Maki. "Maki-chan, I don't think they can hear you," he said.

Maki shook her head violently. "No! He can, he can hear me. Netto-chan!" she yelled.

Dream watched Maki call out to her cousin with a stunned expression. Her mind didn't even register until that moment that what she had done was wrong.

"Netto-chan!" Maki screamed again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto was sure where he was or why he was there. The only thing he knew was that he couldn't sense Rockman and that terrified him. /Rockman/ he called out but there was no answer.

No he couldn't be… there was no way.

/Rockman/ he called again.

The only possible way he couldn't feel Rockman was if he was deleted. But if that was so then he must be…

Netto shook his head, no that wasn't possible. /Rockman/ he screamed as loud as he could.

"Netto-chan," a faint voice reached his ears.

/Rockman/ he called desperately.

"Netto-chan!" no the voice wasn't Rockman's.

/Who/ he asked.

"Netto-chan, please answer!"

Wait, that voice was familiar. "M-maki-chan?" he said groggily.

Maki saw Netto open his eyes. "Netto-chan! Oh my gosh, Netto-chan is awake!" Maki said.

Everyone got as close as they could to the thorn vines. "Netto-kun!" said Madoi. "Wake up!"

Netto jerked awake and found he was tied by his arms to another person. "Wha?" he asked. But before he could struggle the vines uncoiled themselves from Netto's arms. He stood up shakily, "What happened?"

He felt a weight against his legs and looked down. No one blamed him for freaking out and he did just that. Netto yelled in surprise as he looked at what could have been his clone. The person groaned and Netto came to grips with his now seriously messed up reality. "Rockman?" he asked and helped his brother up.

Rockman stood up as shakily as Netto had and put a hand on his head, "Oooh, I don't feel so good," he said. He felt his hair and his now brown eyes widened. "Oh my god," he said.

"Yeah," whispered Netto, "You look like you would if you were human, just a fair warning."

"Some warning," Rockman whispered back.

Netto helped him out of the clearing and the thorns separated to let them pass. Once they were out in the open and Netto had released Rockman he was attacked by Maki.

"Netto-chan!" she squealed and jumped on him.

Netto laughed and held her, "Maki-chan, are you…wait…" he paused. "What are you doing here?" he said.

Maki winced, "I uhhh… got worried about you?"

Netto narrowed his eyes, "I told you to stay at home! I said this would get dangerous and it has! Why did you follow me?"

Maki started to sniffle again, "I-I'm sorry," she said.

Netto's angry gaze softened, "It's okay. Just listen to me next time, all right? And NEVER tell mom or Aunt Sakura what happens here and you won't get into trouble. Deal?" he held out his pinky.

Maki nodded happily and took it. "Yeup," she said.

Rockman stood up and said, "Okay, now that that's all worked out, where are we?" he asked.

"You are in the world between the Net and the real world. It's a purgatory of sorts," said Dream. "I was caught here when I was almost completely deleted but my personality data sustained its self. When I couldn't hold a form in the net I came here, and I've been alone ever since," she said.

Maki jumped down from Netto's arms and went over to Dream. "Well you're not alone any more. When we get out of here you will too! Cause Netto-chan is a super hero, right Netto-chan?" Maki asked.

Netto turned a bright shade of red but no one laughed, he sighed and looked at Rockman who nodded. He turned to Maki and Dream, "Right."

Dream smiled hugged Netto around his knees. "Thank you," she said.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So, what do we do first?" Madoi asked.

"Well, let's recap, we were brought into a weird world in between the net and the real world by a half deleted navi. Now, we don't know how to get out or even where to go. Any suggestions?" Enzan asked.

Dream whimpered and clung to Netto's leg. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be!" said Maki. "Netto-chan says he's always like that."

Netto turned red as Enzan glared at him. "Ah, well, ummmm, I'm not sure, Rockman any suggestions?" he asked his flustered navi.

"Eh? You're asking me? I have no idea," he said.

Blues looked at Rockman's new appearance. "Why do you look like that?" he asked.

Rockman blinked and looked at Blues, surprised by the sudden question. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Why do you look human?" asked Blues.

Rockman opened his mouth then closed it, unsure of how to answer the question. "I have no idea…" he said.

"Could it have something to do with the fact that our data is resynced?" asked Netto.

Rockman's eyes widened, "Of course! I think I get it now," he said.

"Get what?" asked Searchman.

"First of all, are we still in the net?" asked Rockman.

Dream nodded, "Yes, you are in a world between the net and the real world."

Rockman nodded, "Okay, I understand. What probably happened was when I was brought here and 'downloaded' into this new place, what ever it was that made our bodies able to exist here must have read my current DNA. When Papa made me the first time, my DNA data was De-synced from Netto's by 0.001 percent. Now it's the same!"

"I get it," said Blues. "So, the blueprints to your program was changed because of the DNA link, but your program didn't change last time because it was still data. If this really if an in between world then essentially data and flesh are the same thing."

"This is making my head hurt," said Netto.

Enzan smiled, "It is so weird seeing your face think, Netto."

"Hey!" Netto said, but before he could retaliate Maki pulled on his sleeve.

"Netto-chan, what does DNA mean?" she asked.

Netto blinked at a loss for words, "Ummmm…" he looked around. "Any help guys?"

"How do you explain that to a five year old?" Madoi whispered to Hinoken. All she got in return was a shrug.

"Well, do you know what codes are?" asked Rockman.

Maki nodded, "I think so. Like the directions that make up computer programs?"

Netto saw where his brother was going, "Exactly!" he said. "DNA is the code for humans."

"Human directions?" Maki asked.

"Yes!" Rockman said.

"Clever," Enzan muttered to Rockman.

"So, why do Netto and Rockman have the same directions?" Maki asked.

"You take over," Netto said quickly.

Rockman glared at Netto and attempted to explain his story to Maki. "Well, you see. I was born as a human, and then I… died…" Rockman began to realize just how odd the story sounded to a five year old.

Maki, the science fiction lover hung on his every word. "Really?"

Rockman nodded a bit apprehensively and noticed that Dream was watching him with the same wide eyed expression as Maki. "Heh, anyways, Yuuichirou took my DNA and turned it into computer data."

"So, he took human code and made it navi code?" asked Maki, trying to understand.

Rockman laughed, "Close enough."

"Wow!" said Maki. "That is so cool!"

"Don't tell aunt Sakura," Netto said.

"Why not?" Maki asked.

Rockman blinked, but Netto just smiled. "Cause it's a secret," he said.

Maki looked ecstatic, "Wow!" she said breathlessly. "Okay, I promise. Your secret's safe with me."

"We're counting on you," Netto gave her a mock salute.

Maki giggled and saluted back, "Yes sir!"

"You are so good with kids it's scary," Rockman muttered to Netto.

"I've had practice," Netto muttered back.

Mahjorama clapped his hands together, "Okay, Dream, Maki why don't you go play for a bit. We need to plan something."

Maki brightened, "Okay! Come on, Dream. Do you know any fun places to go to?" she asked grabbing Dream's hand.

Dream looked a little scared at first then brightened. "Yeah! It's really close too."

"Can we go?" Maki asked.

"Stay in view," said Netto.

"Okay!" they said together and ran off.

"So, what are we planning now?" asked Rockman.

"How we can get out of here without drawing attention to ourselves from the 'black lady' that Dream met earlier," said Mahajorama.

"I bet that was Obsidian," said Enzan.

"Who is she?" asked Magicman.

"She is the only person we know of that is part of the new net mafia," Blues said.

"How do you know it's more then one person?" asked Elecman.

"Because, when Blues and I fought in the second location we saw someone else there that was not Obsidian, I'm sure of it," said Enzan.

"Okay, so trap set by the bad guys, we walk right in. Question now is, what will they do next?" asked Fireman.

"Good question," Netto and Rockman said at the same time and everyone looked at them. "What?" they said.

"Never mind," said Madoi sweatdropping slightly.

"Should we just wait?" asked Laika.

"That might be our best plan," said Searchman.

"Why?" asked Madoi.

"Because we are expecting attack, if we bide our time and let them come to us, we might find out their plan," he explained.

"Then?" asked Netto. "How do we stay out of trouble then?"

Laika looked a little put out, "Well, let's just try and figure out what exactly our opponents want."

Netto shrugged, "Fine with me."

Rockman almost facefaulted but resisted the urge to do so. "Okay, well then I guess we kind of have a plan."

Maki came out of nowhere and jumped on Netto. "Netto-chan, can you come play?" she asked.

"I don't know…" said Netto, teasing her.

"Netto-chaaaaan," she whined.

"Why don't you ask Rockman?" asked Netto slyly.

Rockman jumped, "Well, I ummm," he stuttered.

Maki jumped on the opportunity, "Yeah! Rockman, will you play too?" she asked.

"I… don't think I'll be very fun to play with," said Rockman.

"Awww, pleaseeeee, Rockman? Play with me?" Maki asked.

"Yeah, play with her," said Netto.

Everyone else smirked as Rockman was dragged off by the hyper five year old.

"Hey, where is Dream?" Enzan asked.

Everyone looked around but the pale navi was nowhere to be seen. "Oh no…" said Madoi.

Then out of nowhere Dream came and jumped on Netto. Netto was very surprised by the attack and gasped and she grabbed onto him. "Wha?" he asked.

"Netto-san, will you play too?" she asked in her quiet voice.

Netto pulled her from around his neck and set her down in front of him. "What do you want to play?" he asked.

Dream gave him a broad grin, "Can we play tag?" she asked. "I remember playing tag a lot."

Netto nodded, "Maybe if you ask everyone else they will play too."

"Please?" she turned her luminescent eyes to everyone else.

"Yeah, please?" asked Netto, laughing a little.

Madoi stood up and nodded, "Sure we will!" she said in a loud voice. "Right?"

"Right…" Enzan said hesitantly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I….am so very weird. But I know you all love it so, bwahahahaha! Anywho, tell me if you want me to write out the tag scene, or if I should just start the next chapter after they've played. Hope you liked the chapter!


	8. Going Home

"Who's it?" asked Maki.

"How about Enzan?" Netto asked.

"I agree," said Madoi.

"Hey!" Enzan protested. "That's not very fair."

"Come on!" Netto said. "We're trying to have a little fun."

"Please, Enzan-san?" Dream asked, looking at Enzan with her luminescent eyes.

Enzan looked at her and sighed. Lately he would do just about anything, what happened to his old attitude on life?

Netto laughed and slung an arm around Enzan's shoulders. "Okay everyone, Enzan's it. Make sure to run really fast!"

Enzan rolled his eyes, 'Oh yeah, that.' He thought irritably.

"Fun!" Maki said.

"Better start running," Enzan muttered to Netto.

Netto glanced at him and took of at a run. As soon as he did Enzan started to chase him.

Netto was very fast and Enzan lost him after awhile. He panted and looked around for someone to tag. It was such a simple game yet it could be so hard too.

He saw who he thought was Netto and went after him. He ran, but not fast enough. Enzan cut him off and tapped him on the shoulder. "Got you Netto," he said.

Rockman turned around and blinked, "You got me, but I'm not Netto-kun."

He heard a laugh from behind him and an indignant grunt from Netto. "You know, we're not THAT hard to tell apart. He is wearing green you know." Netto said.

Enzan blushed, but no one could tell because his face was flushed from running. "I knew that," he muttered.

Rockman laughed, "We know. But you better run, cause I'm it," he said.

Enzan blinked and then took off in the opposite direction from Rockman. Rockman chased after Blues and after three or so minutes of zigzagging he managed to catch him. "Ha!" he cried out in triumph and tapped Blues on his arm.

Blues sighed and ran after Madoi, tapping her easily. Though he strongly suspected that she wanted to get caught. Almost immediately she took after Hinoken and started to chase him around the field.

Netto and Rockman looked at them sweat dropping slightly. "She's playing with him," Rockman said.

"I know," he answered.

Madoi took off at a sprint and caught Hinoken in a chokehold. "Got ya!" she said and let him go. He sighed and took off looking for someone.

Maki giggled and ran by him. He smiled and ran after her, making sure not to catch her too quickly. She squealed with delight when she was finally tapped and ran after Dream.

The two ran around with more energy then anyone else could muster at that point and everyone else just sat down as they chased each other.

"Well, that was fun," Laika said dryly.

"You liked playing tag and you know it," Netto said.

Laika smiled but didn't answer.

"Now what?" Elecman asked.

Rockman shrugged, "Well, it's a bit hard to decide what to do next because we have no idea where we even are in regards to this world. What can we do, is the question we should be asking ourselves."

"Well, sitting around is only dangerous in the end," Searchman said.

Mahajorama nodded, "Yes, if we were brought here as part of a trap and Dream isn't the one who planned it then it's only safe to assume that someone else will come looking for us."

"Why?" asked Netto.

"Why trap us here to begin with?" asked Blues.

"Maybe they needed to get us out of the way for the time being?" Laika suggested.

"Well, if they did and that was their intention then what is going on while we're not there?" asked Rockman.

Elec Hakushaku groaned, "There are too many questions," he said.

Netto nodded, "Yeah. How about we make a plan to get out of here."

"Then we're back a square one," Enzan pointed out. "No matter how you look at it, we need our questions answered before we can actually do anything. If we don't know how we got here then we obviously don't know how to get out. And we will need to find out what happened in out absence. So, in the end, we either need to wait like sitting ducks or find out the answers ourselves."

"I'm for finding out stuff ourselves," Netto said.

"I second that," said Rockman.

Fireman nodded, "There is no reason to find out answers if it means we're in danger. Our best plan in to probably keep moving."

Dream and Maki came from their game of tag and collapsed into the grass. "Tired," Maki said.

Netto laughed softly. "Maybe you shouldn't have ran so much," he said picking her up and setting her into his lap.

Maki made a face, "Not fair. You said to play tag."

"We were playing tag, but we stopped before we became exhausted like you," Rockman said.

Dream yawned and sat up in the grass. Blues looked at the young navi and got an idea. "You said you've been here for awhile?" Blues asked.

Dream nodded, "Yeah, almost two years. Why?"

"Do you know anywhere where we can go and hide?" he asked. "Or some kind of place where we can go to that's not in the open?"

Dream thought about it. "Well, there is this really cool building thing over that way," she said, waving to the east. Or what presumably was the east.

"Building thing?" Netto asked.

Dream nodded, "Yeah, it's really big and it looks like it came straight from a human city."

"That's weird," said Enzan.

"Maybe a left over from when Gospel deleted the net?" Blues asked.

Dream took in a shuddering gasp, diverting all attention to her. "Gospel?" she asked.

"Yes, a program made to…" Enzan started but Dream cut him off.

"Absorb and remake the internet," she finished.

Rockman was the first one to put it together. "You were deleted by Gospel, weren't you?"

Dream nodded. "I was one of the first navi's he absorbed for energy when he was still in his Beta Testing stage. My body became energy for him but my personality remained," she said.

Maki looked a bit put out and put her arms around Dream. "It's okay, Dream. We're here now, and Netto-chan will get you out of here. Right?" she asked.

Netto laughed nervously, "W-well, I can't make any promises…" he stuttered.

Dream looked at him, "Really?" she asked.

Netto sighed, "Well, I promise that we'll try really hard," he said.

Dream nodded and smiled. "I understand," she said.

"Well, then how about we get to that place," said Searchman.

Dream nodded and stood up. "I'll show you the way, it's a little far though," she said.

"It's okay. As long as we don't make ourselves targets," Laika said.

Everyone nodded in agreement and stood up. Dream started to walk in the direction she had pointed in and everyone followed.

"Hey Dream, if we do get you out, where will you go?" Maki asked.

Dream frowned, "I don't know. I don't remember whose navi I was, or even what country I came from. If I ever did get out of here I guess I would end up going to a navi store or something."

Maki frowned, "That's no fun," she said.

Dream smiled, "Well, I don't have an operator. What choice would I have?"

"I could be your operator!" Maki said cheerfully.

Netto looked at her a little surprised, "Maki-chan, having a navi is a lot different from just having a normal pet. First of all, if you have a navi, chances are they won't ever leave you alone… ow!" he said as Rockman elbowed him.

"The reason I nag you is because you don't do your homework, Netto-kun," Rockman said with an annoyed look on his face.

Maki giggled, "I know. But Dream needs someone! And I don't want to say good bye to her when we leave!"

Dream smiled, "I would like that, I think," she said in a soft voice.

"See!" Maki said.

Netto sighed, "Whatever, we'll come to that when this is over."

Rockman nodded, "Yeah, first we need to get out of here."

The small group made their way in the direction that Dream had pointed in. It was a long walk and Dream and Maki got tired. It was all of ten minutes into the walk when Maki started to beg for a piggy back ride. "Pleaaaaaaaase?" she asked.

"Go bug Rockman," Netto said, looking very annoyed.

Rockman shot him a dirty look when Maki turned her large brown eyes to him. "Rockman?" she asked.

Rockman sweatdropped and everyone else had a hard time trying not to laugh. "M-maki-chan, I don't think…"

"Please?" she asked softly.

Rockman groaned and let the five year old onto his back. "Only for a little while, okay?" he asked.

"Yay!" she cried out and jumped on him. Rockman grunted with the force of the impact but held his ground.

"Okay, let's get a move on," Rockman said.

"Do you think this is a trap?" Enzan murmured to Laika.

"I have no idea, if it is, then Dream doesn't know about it," he said back.

"Then if it is, shouldn't we not be walking in the open?" he asked.

Laika shrugged and Hinoken came over and placed his hands on their shoulders making them jump. "What are you two talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," the answered and walked away.

Hinoken sweatdropped and Madoi laughed, "Come on, Hinoken they're kids."

"Very anti-social kids," he murmured.

Madoi shrugged and walked ahead to talk to Coloredman. Hinoken sighed and Fireman came up to him with a touch of concern in his eyes. "Is anything wrong?" he asked.

Hinoken looked at Madoi laughing with her navi and shook his head. "Nothing, just nothing."

Fireman followed his gaze and nodded, "I see."

Hinoken ignored his navi's quip and continued the walk in silence.

It wasn't long before Netto was giving Dream a piggy back ride as well. She didn't even have to ask for it, just looking at Maki and giving a sad sigh every three seconds was a sign even Netto couldn't ignore. She pointed in the directions she wanted them to go and they followed along without questioning, after all she was the only one who knew the place.

Still, Laika and Enzan were suspicious. They didn't think she was bad but she might not realize she was being manipulated. They told each other so and their navi's agreed. The foursome made sure to keep an eye out for anything that might be deemed as suspicious just in case.

They came up on the large building after about thirty minutes of walking. "It's huge," Netto said.

Rockman laughed, "Different looking at buildings from the internet in real life huh?" he asked.

Netto nodded, "Yeah, completely different."

Maki looked at the building with wonder, "They can make stuff like this in the internet?" she gasped.

"Yeah, programmers like Netto's dad do stuff like this," Enzan said. He eyed the building but couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary.

"It's safe, Enzan-sama," Blues murmured to his operator.

They went into the building, and Obsidian watched from her perch on a tree in the distance.

"I knew they would come here soon," she grinned. "It's just so easy to fool people these days." She jumped from the tree and disappeared reappearing in front of the building. "Time to have some fun," she sing songed.

"This place really is huge!" Elec Hakushaku said.

Elecman nodded, "This was one of the information centers," he said.

Rockman blinked, "I remember this place, it held all of the police records didn't it?"

"Yeah," said Blues. "It was run by the Net Police, one of the first buildings to go in the Gospel invasion."

Dream shut her eyes at hearing the word Gospel and Netto tried to console her. Everyone else looked around the building for anything that might be of use in getting out of the strange world that they were in.

"Anything?" Laika asked.

Searchman shook his head, "Not here."

"I found our police record!" Coloredman yelled.

"Put it away!" the other members of WWW yelled at him.

"Okay okay, geez," he said and put the file back where he found it.

"Can anything here actually help us?" Rockman asked.

Blues shrugged, "It's worth a shot. Unless you want to go search out Obsidian and ask her how to get back."

Rockman smiled nervously, "Point taken."

"Oh, but I could help in so many ways," said a voice.

Everyone jumped up on the alert. "Who's there?" Enzan yelled.

Obsidian stepped out from the shadows grinning widely. "You think I brought you here not knowing where you were? Shame on you for underestimating me."

Everyone but Netto, Maki and Rockman turned to Dream. Maki saw this and ran in front of her friend. "You're wrong! Dream didn't do anything," she yelled.

Obsidian laughed bringing all attention back to her. "The child is right; I had no use for that brat after she brought you here."

Dream's eyes filled with tears. Maki put her arms around her and hugged her, "It's all right, Netto-chan and Rockman will get the mean lady for you."

Obsidian laughed, "You're precious friends are no more fit to battle me right now then you are. This world has no Humans and Navi's do you honestly think you can attack me?"

"Then you can attack us either," Blues said.

"Who said I was trying to?" she retorted.

Everyone was silent and Obsidian smirked. "You humans are so predictable. You think that I brought you here to destroy you? Plans need to be more thought out then that, not like you'd ever understand that though. You see, I didn't bring you here to destroy you, I brought you here to get you out of the way."

"Why?" Rockman hissed.

Obsidian waved a finger as if telling a small child 'no', "Tut tut, do you think I'm going to give my plan away that easily?" she asked. "You underestimate me!" she yelled.

"Then what do you plan to do now?" Blues asked.

"Well, you see, I want to leave you here to rot for the rest of your days, but I have my orders and covering for 8 missing people and 7 missing navi's would bring too much unwanted attention. So enjoy the freebie while you can."

"What about Dream?" Maki yelled.

Obsidian cast a glance on the small Navi making her flinch. "I gave my word, and I never go back on my word. But know that I also promise you this, your peace won't last long," she said and a mist started to fill the room they were in. "We just finished the first part of our plan and you will never defeat us."

"Netto-chan?" Netto felt Maki shaking his shoulder.

"Nuh, five more minutes," he said.

"Netto-chan!" Maki screamed and Netto woke up quickly. So did everyone else.

"What?" he asked.

"Where's dream?" she asked with an expression of worry etched on her face.

Netto blinked and remembered what had just happened. He gaped at her for a few seconds, "I…"

"She's with me," Rockman said from his PET.

Netto pulled up his PET and opened the touch screen to see Dream and Rockman standing side by side. "Dream!" Maki yelled.

Dream nodded happily. "I'm fine."

"Well that's good to know," Enzan said dryly. "But what about Obsidian."

"Looks like we're going to have to wait," Searchman said.

Laika frowned, "What did they do that they needed to make sure we had no chance of finding out about it?"

"When you know that, you'll be able to stop them," said Madoi. "That's why they did it."

"I-I'm sorry," Dream said.

"Don't be," said Maki. "It wasn't your fault."

Mahajorama nodded in his solemn way. "The young one is right. Now, I think we need to get back to Mejin-san and tell him what happened."

Netto looked at his watch and blanched. "Ummm, you go, I'm going home," he said and took Maki's hand.

"Netto," Enzan started but was cut off by Netto.

"I'm still babysitting remember?" Netto asked.

"Good luck, kid," Madoi laughed.

"Thanks," Netto said and ran out the door with Maki in tow.

"Everything is going according to plan," Obsidian said to a shadowy figure on a touch screen.

"Excellent, and the kids?"

"None the wiser."

"Good job, you may go," he said.

Obsidian grinned and left in a flash.

Netto and Maki were sitting on the couch watching TV when Sakura and Haruka came into the house.

"We're home!" Haruka called.

"Welcome back!" Rockman called back. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes," Haruka said as they walked into the living room. "Did anything happen while we were gone?" she asked.

Maki giggled, "We found a navi!" she said.

Sakura blinked, "Where?"

"On the square," Rockman said. "She said she got lost after the Gospel incident."

Dream appeared next to Rockman and gave a polite bow. "Pleased to meet you," she said.

"Oh, aren't you a little darling," Sakura cooed.

"Did you ask where her operator was?" Haruka asked.

Netto nodded, "She's a program navi for a company that went out of business two months after the Gospel incident."

"Really now?" Haruka asked.

Rockman nodded, "We looked up her Navi Insignia data. Her name is Dream."

"Mommy, can we keep her? She needs someone, please?" Maki asked.

Sakura smiled, "We'll see. For the time being I'll say yes."

"YEAH!" Maki yelled and grabbed Netto's PET from his hands earning a loud protest from the boy. "Did you hear that Dream?" she asked.

Dream nodded, "Yes, I'm very happy."

"Well, you two had an adventure today," Haruka smiled.

/She has no idea/ Netto said.

/Hush, Netto-kun/ Rockman replied.

"But it's time for bed," Sakura finished.

"Awwww," Maki said.

Netto shrugged and went upstairs. Rockman appeared in the computer in his room before Maki could storm in. "Anything wrong Netto-kun?"

"I'm just worried about what Obsidian said," he mused.

Rockman shrugged, "I hate to say this, but we have to wait. They have one up on us, Netto-kun."

"Yeah, I know," Netto said, sighing.

"Don't worry, everything will turn out fine," Rockman said smiling.

Netto nodded, giving his brother a smile of his own. "I know. Everything always does."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

End of Dream arc. Hope you enjoyed the new member of my ever growing OC list ; ah well. She's cute, I hope that makes up for it.


	9. The Sleepover

The next morning Netto snuck out with his PET in hand leaving Maki and Dream in his room to sleep. He and Rockman had just received a message from Mejin to get down to Net Savior HQ and he wasn't in the mood to babysit. Not at 8:30 in the morning.

He and Rockman rolled into the large building some fifteen minutes after receiving the message. As always Laika and Enzan were standing outside of the room waiting for him. "Morning," Netto muttered. 

"Good morning to you too," Laika said with his eyebrow raised.

Netto shot him a dirty look and went in the room.

"He's not a morning person," Enzan said quietly.

"Obviously," Laika retorted.

The two boys walked into Mejin's office and sat down in the plush chairs in front of his desk. "Okay, I heard most of the story from Enzan and Laika last night. Care to elaborate on anything, Netto-kun?" Mejin asked.

Netto shook his head.

"Okay then, I'm sorry but we're going to have to wait for the next strike. There are no data trails and I don't think we'll get any information out of your new friend Dream."

"What about Netto and Rockman?" Enzan asked.

"What about us?" Netto replied.

"I mean, they're obviously after you two. We know they can manipulate Rockman programming which means they might even be able to manipulate you Netto. So, what are you planning on doing to make sure nothing happens?" Enzan asked.

"Uhhh…" Netto really didn't have an answer to that.

Mejin sighed, "Well, I can make a suggestion but I can't really do anything about it. Netto and Rockman's lives are their own when they're not on duty."

Netto stuck his tongue out at Enzan.

"However, I can strongly suggest what to do. Mostly because I'm an adult and you're still 12."

Enzan and Laika both his smiles behind their hands and Netto glared at them.

"Netto, Rockman I'm not saying you two are little kids but you do need help. It's not a weakness to accept someone's help and trust me, with what has happened and what can happen accepting someone's offer might not be a bad idea," Mejin said.

Netto crossed his arms and flumped into his chair. "So, what's your suggestion?" he muttered.

"A sleepover," Mejin said.

"Come again?" Enzan asked.

"Well, just to make sure nothing happens and if it does you two will be there to help. Come on, I'm sure you've been to a sleep over before," Mejin said.

Laika and Enzan shared an uncomfortable silence.

It was now Netto's turn to laugh. Though he didn't try to hide it in the slightest.

Mejin was slight disturbed that the two older boys had never been to a sleep over before. Then again it was Laika and Enzan.

/Makes you almost feel sorry for them/ Netto thought to Rockman.

/Hush Netto-kun, that's mean/ Rockman said with the barest hint of amusement in his mental voice.

/Then why do you think its funny/ Netto asked slyly.

/I don't/

/You do too/ Netto chided.

Mejin cleared his throat and everyone's attention was turned to him. "Well, as I said it was a suggestion, but a strong one. You three are dismissed until something happens."

Netto, Laika and Enzan all got up and left the building. "Well, what do you think?" Enzan asked.

"It's a good idea," Laika murmured.

"I still can't believe you two have never been to a sleep over," said Netto, missing the point entirely.

"Well, when you're raised to be the vice president of IPC sleepovers don't happen very often," Enzan said irritably.

"But still…" Netto said.

/Netto-kun/ Rockman warned.

Netto smiled but clamped his mouth shut.

"Well, it can't hurt and in case anything does happen it's probably the best idea we have," Laika said.

"It's probably your best bet to get a social life too," Netto laughed. 

/Netto-kun/ 

/I couldn't resist/ Netto laughed.

The two boys gave him angry glares but didn't reply. "So whose house?" Laika asked.

"Not mine," said Netto. "Unless you want Maki-chan, my mom and aunt Sakura bugging us all night."

Laika and Enzan didn't reply directly to the statement but Enzan quickly said, "We'll have it at my house."

Rockman giggled and Netto said, "Okay, we'll see you at five. Bye!" he waved and took off down his street.

"Bye," Enzan said when Netto was well out of earshot. "He's hyper isn't he?"

"No, what makes you say that?" Laika asked sarcastically. 

/ 

Netto ran into his house and managed to take off his shoes before he was attacked my Maki. "Yay! You're back!" she yelled.

Netto was knocked over by the force of her slamming into him and he grunted as she attached herself to his mid section. "Oof, hey Maki-chan." 

"What did you do? Did you beat anymore bad guys?" she asked.

Rockman laughed, "No Maki-chan. Mejin-san actually told us to lie low for awhile."

"Lie low?" Dream asked.

"Not bring attention to ourselves until the enemies make their move first," Rockman explained.

"Yeup, so tonight, Laika, Enzan and I are having a sleep over," Netto said.

Haruka with her ability to hear any word that was important uttered in the household poked her head in. "Really?" she asked.

Netto nodded, "Yeah, I was invited after we left HQ." He left out the part about how it was to make sure nothing happened to him and Rockman.

"Ooooh, can I come too?" Maki asked.

"No," Netto and Rockman said simultaneously.

"Awww," Maki started to pout but Haruka put her hand on Maki's head making her sniffles stop.

"I think it's great that your friends are starting to open up. Just make sure you get there before the storm," she said.

"Storm?" Netto and Rockman asked.

Haruka nodded, "Yes, there is a storm warning for this evening." 

"Okay, mama, we'll leave before the rain," Rockman said.

Haruka smiled, "I know. Make sure you two have fun."

/ 

Later that evening after many games of tag with Maki, Netto finally managed to escape his house and head towards Enzan's.

"Netto-kun, do you think anything will happen?" Rockman asked in a semi-worried voice.

"Nah," Netto said casually. "I doubt they will try anything so soon." 

Rockman sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right, I just can't help but shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen." 

"Something bad will happen. We know that, but not right away," Netto said. 

Rockman relaxed a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right.

They skated up to Enzan's huge mansion and looked around it in wonder. "Wow," Netto said.

"Agreed," Rockman answered.

Enzan came out of the front door to greet them. "Hey, you two are late," Enzan said.

"Netto-kun is always late," Rockman said.

"Not my fault! Maki wanted to skate!" Netto said.

Enzan rolled his eyes then gazed at the threatening sky above. "Come one, we better get out of this," he said.

Netto and Rockman didn't need telling twice and they followed Enzan inside.

Maki snuck in behind them and quickly his in a closet.

"Maki-chan I don't think this is a good idea," Dream said in a worried whisper.

"You're being a scaredy cat!" Maki scoffed. "Everything will be fine. I wanna see what Netto-chan is really doing."

"Maybe they're really having a sleepover?" Dream said.

"No, I bet they're going on some secret mission. And when they do I'll be there to see it all," Maki said excitedly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto followed Enzan into the living room and whistled. "Wow, do you live here all alone?" he asked.

Enzan nodded. "My dad rarely comes home so it's just Blues, me and the cleaning robots."

Netto frowned, "That's depressing."

/Netto-kun/ Rockman reprimanded.

/Well it is/ Netto said.

Enzan sighed heavily. "I know, but I'm at work most of the time anyway. So it doesn't matter."

Netto instantly felt bad about saying that and tired to cover it up by laughing nervously and telling a bad joke.

Enzan smiled and recognized the feeble attempt to make him feel better. 

Rockman left his PET to join Blues and Searchman in the cyber world. "Hey," he said as he linked onto the main homepage.

The two navi's greeted their friend with small waves which was more then Rockman was expecting.

"When did Laika get here?" Rockman asked.

"A half hour ago," they answered in unison.

Rockman winced, "Netto-kun was playing with Maki-chan," he said.

Blues gave a small smile, "I guessed as much. A lot has happened huh?" 

Rockman sighed, "No kidding. Thank god she thinks it's all a big sci-fi movie and isn't scared about it. I thought for sure she would have freaked out by now. Epically after the first time when Netto-kun and I got captured by Neo WWW."

"What?" Enzan yelled into the monitor.

Rockman slapped his forehead.

/Niiiiiice/ Netto said sarcastically.

/I'm sorry, I just said it, I forgot…/ Rockman said drifting off. 

"What happened now?" Laika asked.

"It's no big deal," Netto said laughing to make it seem lighter. "See, when Maki-chan first came Mejin-san gave me a mission about two hours after mom and aunt Sakura went shopping. So, you know having a five year old on a mission didn't bode very well…" Netto trailed off.

Enzan rubbed his temples, "And?" he asked.

Rockman laughed nervously, "They caught Maki-chan and used her as bait to get me and Netto-kun."

"That's low," Searchman muttered darkly.

"That's what I said!" Netto said. "Anyways, that's all done with. We don't even need to worry about Neo WWW now. We need to worry about Obsidian."

"We don't need to worry about anything tonight," Rockman said matter of factly.

"That's right!" Netto said. "Tonight is for fun. Did either of you order pizza?"

"Huh?" Enzan asked.

"Pizza, you've had it right?" Netto asked.

"Of course!" Enzan and Laika yelled.

Netto help up his hands in defense. "Just making sure!" he laughed nervously. "Pizza is always ordered at sleepovers."

Enzan sighed and picked up his PET. "I don't know what's around here," he said doubtfully.

"You don't want curry?" Rockman asked a bit surprised.

"Nah, WWW deserves a break almost as much as we do," he said.

Rockman blinked, "How surprisingly mature of you."

"What?" Netto hissed.

"Nothing, nothing," Rockman said innocently.

"Yeah right," Netto muttered.

Enzan used his PET to call the nearest pizza place. "Who wants what?" he asked.

"Cheese," Laika said.

"Pepperoni," Netto said.

Enzan sighed, "Okay." He placed the order over his PET line and said, "It will be here in 15 minutes."

"What did you get?" Netto asked.

"One large one medium, the large is half cheese half pineapple and the medium is pepperoni since I figure you will eat a whole pizza yourself," Enzan said pointedly to Netto.

Rockman snickered in the back ground and Netto growled.

"Pineapple?" Laika asked.

Enzan blushed slightly. "I like it," he muttered.

"O-okay," Laika said.

They talked until the pizza got there. When it did the air was thick with a promise of rain. Enzan took the pizzas from the pizza guy and gave him the money plus a tip. Then he took the pizza inside.

"It's here," he said and set the pizza down. Netto immediately dived into his and started too much on the cheese.

Maki smelled the pizza from her hiding place in the closet. It was just then when her stomach gave a loud growl and she leaned against the wall. "I'm hungry," she said softly.

"I told you they weren't going on a mission," Dream said softly. 

"Maybe they're just saving up their energy," Maki said hopefully.

"I don't think so," Dream said doubtfully.

Maki crossed her arms. "Well, that shows how much you know," she said. 

Dream sighed. Maki was going to get into so much trouble when they found her.

Outside there was a low rumble of thunder.

"Oh, looks like there's going to be a storm," Netto said.

"Hope Maki-chan will be okay," Rockman said doubtfully.

"Don't worry. She'll just go to Aunt Sakura or mom," Netto said.

"Is Maki-san scared of thunderstorms?" Blues asked.

Rockman nodded. "She's climbed into bed with Netto cause of it." 

Netto coughed. "Yes well, mom and Aunt Sakura are with her tonight, so it's not my problem."

/ 

Maki heard the thunder and pushed herself into a corner of the closet. She whimpered softly and tried to make herself as small as possible. 

"Maki-chan are you okay?" Dream asked.

Maki shook her head no.

"Are you afraid of thunderstorms?" Dream asked.

Maki shook her head no. Then in the distance there was another, louder, crack of thunder. She quickly nodded.

"You know thunder is just created when the lightning heats the air around it so fast that it expands creating a large sound right?" Dream asked.

"Dream?" Maki asked in a terrified whisper.

"Yes?" 

"Please be quiet," she said.

/ 

Netto and the others laughed outside as the storm approached. The boys didn't notice it and the navi's didn't either until they were forced to by the lightning being a tad to close to a signal receiver. Then all they did was return to the safety of their PET's and link the homepages.

Then there was a bight flash of lightning and a loud crack of thunder that shook the walls. Not long after they could hear a wail.

"W-what was that?" Netto asked.

"A g-g-gh-ghost?" Rockman asked in a terrified whisper.

"Don't be silly," Enzan said. "It's probably just a cat that got caught in the storm."

There was another loud crack and a distinct sobbing noise.

"E-enzan, it's in the house," Netto said shakily.

"Okay, no one panic. We're Net Saviors, we can handle anything on our own," Enzan said calmly.

"Enzan, the receivers are jammed cause of the storm, we can't call for help," Netto said.

Enzan paled slightly but moved on boldly. "It's all right," he said, almost as if he was trying to assure himself.

"N-netto-kun?" Rockman asked.

"Yes?" 

"Do you think it's a g-g-ghost?"

Netto shook his head. They were so nervous they didn't even realize that the conversation they meant to be mental was spoken out loud.

There was one more crack of thunder and all three heard the distinct sound of crying.

"I knew it, this place is haunted!" Rockman said.

"Pull yourself together," Searchman said.

Netto crept cautiously to the closet that the wails were coming from. As soon as he opened it he was attacked by something and knocked to the floor.

Enzan and Laika prepared to spring but they all stopped short as they saw who was sobbing in Netto's arms.

"Maki-chan!" they all said in unison.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Okay, update! Sorry this wasn't up sooner. was down for quite awhile.


	10. How to make Cookies

Maki looked up at all of them somewhat sheepishly and waved. "H-hi," she said.

"I told Maki-chan not to come but she wouldn't listen," Dream said.

"Sounds like Netto-kun," Rockman said to Dream in a dry tone.

"What are you doing here?" Netto yelled.

Maki dried her eyes and stood up as high as she possibly could. "I am waiting for you to go on a mission!" she said. "I know that's what this is for."

Netto tried very hard not to yell at Maki. "No, it's not. This is a sleepover, Maki-chan."

Maki blinked, "Really?" she asked.

All three boys nodded.

Maki squealed with delight. "Ooooo! Can I come?"

Everyone else tried to deal with the mood change while Maki quivered excitedly. No one knew quite what to say.

"You're already here, Maki-chan," Dream reminded her softly.

Maki blinked, "Oh right! Well then, can I stay?"

"It's storming outside, Maki-chan," Dream said again.

Maki giggled, "I forgot. So, whatcha guys gonna do?" she asked.

Everyone else was snapped out of their disbelief rather quickly. "I… don't know," Netto said.

"Oers!" Maki said excitedly. "Can we make cookies?"

"I don't know if Enzan even has the stuff to make cookies," Netto said looking at Enzan, all of his anger forgotten for the moment.

Enzan crossed his arms. "I do, Netto I have to eat you know."

"What, you're not part of the undead legions?" Netto asked in a fake surprised voice.

"Netto-kun, you've been watching too many late night movies," Rockman said.

"Shut up, Rockman," Netto growled. "It was a joke. At least I don't think the undead are real."

"I don't think the undead are real!" Rockman said. "Just… ghosts," he added as an afterthought.

Maki giggled and Dream gave an amused smile from inside her PET. Netto sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he looked at Enzan, "Do you even know how to cook?" he asked.

"I can make pancakes," Enzan said. "I don't remember you being a very good cook either."

"Netto-kun isn't a bad cook," Rockman said, "He's just… messy."

"Thank you Rockman," Netto said sarcastically.

"Can we make cookies?" Maki asked again.

"You shouldn't even be here!" Netto said.

"But I am," Maki said in a matter of fact voice. "Now, can we make cookies?"

"I… guess?" Enzan said uncertainly. Netto had never heard him use that voice before.

"Not used to little kids?" he asked quietly as Maki ran towards the kitchen squealing happily.

"Let's see… no," Enzan hissed.

"All right, all right," Netto said. "No need to get crabby."

There was a flash of lightning followed closely by a crack of thunder that made everyone jump. Maki's lower lip trembled and Netto ran into the kitchen to keep her from freaking out.

Laika actually smiled, "Cookies huh?"

Enzan groaned, "Do any of us know how to cook?"

"We're about to find out," Laika replied.

Searchman and Blues exchanged nervous glances but didn't say anything.

Laika and Enzan went into the kitchen to make sure Maki and Netto didn't do anything. Enzan found his mother's old cook book and Maki leafed through the pages. "Ooooh, let's make chocolate chip cookies!" she said.

Netto shrugged, "It can't be that hard," he muttered.

Enzan and Laika looked at him like he had just said defeating the net mafia's weren't that hard. "Netto, I ask this with as much sincerity as I can muster, do you even know how to cook?"

Netto crossed his arms, "Of course I do!" he said.

Rockman sniggered.

"Shut up," Netto muttered.

"What was that for?" Laika asked.

"Nothing," Rockman said and looked up at the ceiling of the net to keep himself from laughing.

Blues and Searchman looked at Rockman, then at each other. Then they decided to find out what exactly Rockman didn't want to tell them. In the real world Netto and the others started to get the things needed to make chocolate chip cookies.

"Let's put in lots of chocolate chips!" Maki said.

"Maki, you're going to make yourself sick eating that much chocolate," Laika said calmly.

"Nuh uhh… I once ate a whole chocolate Easter Bunny all by myself in one day!" she said proudly.

Netto coughed and it sounded like he was desperately trying not to laugh.

"Netto?" Enzan asked.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Maki-chan, only one bag of chocolate chips," he said.

Maki gave a heartfelt, "Awwwww," but didn't argue beyond that.

Later on, when it came time to mix the ingredients Maki begged to use the mixer.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Enzan said calmly.

"But it's fun! Please?" Maki asked.

"Let Laika do it," Enzan said.

"Why me?" Laika asked.

"Because I don't want to," Enzan muttered.

Netto watched the exchange with an amused look on his face. "Then let Maki-chan do it," he said.

Laika and Enzan looked at him. "Why don't you do it?" they said together.

"Trust me," Rockman said quickly. "You don't want him to."

"Rockman, shut up," Netto said.

Laika and Enzan got the gist of Rockman's message and sighed. "Okay how about Laika starts it, then Maki can take over," Enzan said.

"Why me?" Laika asked again.

Enzan glared at him and Maki silently cheered in the back ground.

/This is way too amusing. I wish I had a video camera/ Netto laughed to his brother.

/Netto-kun, do you really think they should let Maki-chan use the mixer/ Rockman replied.

/What's the worst that could happen/ Netto asked easily.

/Do you want me to answer that/ Rockman replied.

Netto paused. /No, not really/ he said.

Laika picked up the mixer and looked at it like it was an alien being from another planet.

/Rockman, take a picture/ Netto said.

/But Netto-kun/ Rockman started.

/Please! His expression is too funny/ Netto said. /And I can't laugh right now or he'll kill me./

Rockman sighed and took a freeze frame picture with the PET.

Laika turned on the mixer and started to mix the ingredients together. It was a slow process because he refused to go any higher then the lowest setting. Netto, Maki and Enzan all peered over his shoulder to see how it was coming. Rockman took a picture of that too.

When it was mostly mixed Maki yelled out, "My turn!"

Laika sighed and handed it to her, "All right, but keep it on the setting that it's at."

"But it's so slow!" Maki said. "Just a little higher," she murmured and turned it on high.

"No!" Everyone else yelled but it was too late, the bowl literally exploded with cookie goo and it got everywhere. Netto reached over and pulled the plug out of the wall and the mixer died.

There was cookie dough everywhere, even though half of it was still in the bowl. Maki, Netto, Laika and Enzan were all covered and Rockman and Dream couldn't stop laughing. Blues and Searchman were trying not to laugh and Laika and Enzan weren't very happy. Netto looked at the bowl then the kitchen and said, "Cookie dough anyone?"

Maki started to laugh and licked some of the cookie dough off her hand. "Mmm, it's good," she said.

"Well, we still have half of it," Laika sighed.

Netto looked at the oven. "Ummm… no one preheated the oven," he said.

Enzan and Laika looked at each other. "Preheat?" they asked.

Rockman laughed even harder and Blues and Searchman both had sudden cough attacks.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto dragged Maki to the upstairs bathroom to clean her and himself of the cookie mess. There was nothing he could do about her clothes and he made do with scrubbing them as best as he could and letting them dry out as he brushed the goo out of Maki's hair.

"Laika told you not to turn it up," he said as she winced.

"But it was taking so long!" Maki said.

Netto wetted the brush in the sink and continued to brush her hair. "I know, but patience isn't such a bad thing."

"You're not patient," Maki huffed.

Netto sweatdropped and Rockman's muffled laugh could be heard from inside his PET.

/You, hush/ Netto said irritably.

/I'm just going to see how Laika and Enzan are doing/ Rockman said quickly and left his PET. Once safely in the hall monitor he started to laugh and didn't stop for a long while.

Downstairs Laika and Enzan managed to put the cookies on a greased pan and put them into the oven for ten minutes while they cleaned up the kitchen and themselves.

Netto had to take off his bandana because he also got quite a bit of goo in his hair and Maki was more then willing to help him get it out. In the process she also managed to pull out some of Netto's hair but it really didn't matter. Not to her anyway.

Enzan and Laika had a bit more luck and were nice and clean when Netto and Maki came downstairs. Netto had washed his bandana and was waiting for it to dry, and for his headache to go away before he put it in his hair again.

"We have about 20 cookies," Laika said.

"Really?" Netto asked. "That must have been a really big recipe."

Laika nodded and pointed to the cookies on the sheets. "They have to cool though."

Netto nodded and Maki bounced up and down. "So, now what?"

Netto blinked and sighed. "Maki-chan, how about we eat the cookies before anything else?"

"Okay!" Maki said happily.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ten minutes later everyone was sitting around the TV watching the latest "Starpotter" movie and eating cookies. Even Enzan and Laika had to admit they didn't turn out badly. It wasn't until the movie was almost over when it dawned on Netto and Rockman that letting Maki eat chocolate at 10 PM might not have been the greatest idea.

"Now what do we do?" she asked very quickly.

Enzan looked at her warily. "Maki, its 10, maybe we should sleep?"

Maki's eyes widened. "Sleep at a sleepover?" she asked in a disbelieving voice.

"Yes, novel idea isn't it," Laika said dryly.

Maki gasped, "You can't sleep at a sleep over. It's like a law or something!"

"It is?" Enzan said skeptically.

"Yeah, just like you can't sleep on Christmas Eve," she said. "It's impossible!"

"Well then, what do you want to do?" Rockman asked.

"Play hide and seek?" she asked.

Enzan shook his head, "Not in this house."

Maki stuck out her lower lip, "Awwww, why?" she asked.

"Maki, this house is huge, you would probably get lost," Enzan said.

"But…" Maki started.

Netto shook his head, "No buts, this is Enzan's house."

Maki crossed her arms, "Fine then what should we do?"

"Not make any more cookies," Laika said softly.

Searchman hid a smile within a cough but Rockman and Blues noted it with a touch of amusement.

"How about we try and calm down," said Enzan.

Netto snorted and earned himself a glare from Enzan. "What?" he asked.

"You're not helping," Enzan muttered to Netto.

"Enzan, you've clearly never been around little kids before. They don't calm down," Netto said. "Especially after they've eaten 6 chocolate chip cookies."

"Well then, what do you propose we do?" Enzan asked tightly.

"I don't know, do you have any suggestions?"

"Hey!" Maki said trying to get everyone's attention but Netto and Enzan kept muttering to each other and Laika was talking to his navi. She frowned and jumped on the couch, "Hey!" she yelled. Dream, Rockman and Blues watched her but didn't say anything. Everyone kept on ignoring her and she grabbed a pillow and flung it at Netto and Enzan, "I said hey!" she yelled.

It hit Netto on the head and landed on the floor. He glared at Maki who returned the glare all too happily. "Maki-chan, what did you do that for?" Netto asked.

"You were ignoring me!" she said.

"What?" Netto asked.

"I said you were ignoring me!" Maki yelled.

"No, I mean what did you want?" Netto said, his nerves were ever so slightly starting to fray.

Maki blinked, looked up in a thoughtful manner and shrugged sheepishly, "I don't remember."

Netto growled and threw the pillow back at her, "When you remember tell me," he said.

Maki caught the pillow in her arms and grinned. She looked around the room and flung the pillow straight at Laika. Laika was somewhat surprised when a large red couch pillow flew right into his face and Netto burst out laughing. Enzan looked from Laika to Maki unsure of what to say.

Laika picked up the pillow with an annoyed look and looked at who threw it at them. Maki squeaked and jumped off the couch and ran to hide behind Netto. Laika had no qualms with throwing the pillow at Netto. It hit Netto in the face and he glared at Laika while Maki giggled madly.

Netto threw the pillow at Laika but it missed and hit Enzan instead who was less then happy about the intrusion of his personal space. Maki smiled and picked up another pillow. Netto, Laika and Enzan all saw her do this and armed themselves just in case. Maki threw it at Enzan who deflected it with his own pillow onto Netto. Netto was more then happy to throw one at Enzan who received one from Laika.

The navi's watched in silent amusement but did not say a word.

Ten minutes later the living room was a mess and there were pillows everywhere. Maki was collapsed on Netto who was sprawled out in the middle of the floor. Enzan was lying on the couch and Laika was in a chair. "Tired now?" Netto asked Maki.

Maki, whose eyes were half shut, shook her head slowly. Netto smirked and nodded, "I thought so," he said.

They waited only ten more minutes before Maki fell asleep in Netto's lap. Netto gave a sigh of relief and said "Thank goodness."

Enzan nodded. "Oh, Netto?"

"Hm?" Netto asked.

"Tell anyone what happens tonight and you will pay," he said in a dead serious tone.

Laika nodded, "I second that."

Netto stuck his tongue out at them and laughed. "What, afraid your reputations as being jerks will get ruined."

Laika halfheartedly threw a pillow at Netto who caught it before it landed on Maki. Netto giggled and set the pillow on the floor. Then he laid Maki on the pillow. She curled up and murmured something but stayed asleep.

Enzan yawned, "What time is it?" he asked.

Netto looked at his PET. "It's 11:25, kinda early if you ask me," Netto said.

"Not everyone stays up till three playing video games, Netto-kun," Rockman said.

"Shut up," Netto grumbled.

"I think we should all go to sleep," Laika said.

"But no one goes to sleep at a sleep over!" Netto said in a reflection of what Maki had told them so fervently an hour before.

"We do," Laika and Enzan said simultaneously.

Netto stuck his tongue out at them.

"Netto, this may be fun but don't forget the reason we're doing this is so you don't get hurt," Enzan reminded him.

Netto crossed his arms, "Thanks for the info, Mr. Happy."

/Netto-kun, they're just trying to remind you why you're here/ Rockman said gently.

/I don't want to be reminded/ Netto told his twin huffily.

/They're worried about you/ Rockman said gently.

Netto sighed and stretched out next to Maki.

Enzan picked up one of the many pillows that were lying haphazardly all over the room and tossed it to Netto. Netto caught it and lay down. It's not that he was tired, but lying down did have its appeals at that moment.

Enzan lay down on the couch and Laika fell asleep on the chair, not that he wasn't used to it. Blues and Searchman noted everything silently and Blues made sure to turn off all the lights once he was sure that everyone was asleep.

There was a distant rumble of thunder and Maki shined softly. Dream was afraid that she might wake up but instead she pressed herself into Netto's arms who half woke up and obliged to the snuggling as long as it meant that Maki wouldn't start crying about the thunder.

Rockman smiled, "Netto-kun has been taking care of Maki-chan for some time, don't worry about them Dream."

Dream smiled and yawned herself. "I know, but Maki seems to be a little overzealous at times."

Rockman smiled at Dream and put his hand on her head. "I think you should go to sleep too," he said softly.

Dream nodded happily and linked to her PET where she went into stasis mode. Rockman, Blues and Searchman stayed up for a bit longer.

"Do you think everything will turn out all right?" Rockman asked.

Blues and Searchman looked at one another, "What do you mean?" Blues asked.

"Well, what with that artifact being stolen and everything that's happened in the last few days, do you think it will be all right?" Rockman asked again.

Searchman nodded. "I can't tell the future but I do know that everything does normally turn out for you as long as we're one step ahead."

"Are we?" asked Rockman.

"Well, that don't know where you are," Searchman said. "And even if they do you're still safe."

Rockman smiled, "Yeah. I'd just like to know what they're planning."

"Wouldn't we all," Blues said.

Obsidian watched the conversation from above, "Oh, I know you would," she smirked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The cookie chapter…. Ye GODS that was the most fun to write chapter ever. Hope you liked it X3 I know I did.


	11. Control

The next morning Maki woke up bright and early. So did Dream and the navi's but Netto, Laika and Enzan were all sound asleep. It was odd to see Enzan and Laika asleep because sometime with them you got the impression that they never did sleep. Or when they did they made sure no one else saw them do it.

Maki wiggled out of Netto's embrace and set her feet quietly on the ground. She actually made a conscious effort to not wake Netto and the others up, only if because she got impression that if she woke Enzan or Laika up the consequences wouldn't be pretty.

Dream met her in her new PET outside in the hall. "Netto-chan is sleeping," Maki giggled.

Dream smiled, "Yes, they all are. I'm surprised you aren't, do you know what time it is?"

Maki shook her head no.

Dream pointed to the upper left hand corner of her PET. "Press the program button there," she instructed.

"Here?" Maki asked.

Dream nodded, "Yes, it should open a program that tells you what time it is," she said.

Maki did as she was instructed and large numbers appeared on the screen. "7:29…" she said slowly. "Wow, it's early."

"See?" Dream said.

Maki giggled. "Ah well, I can wait."

Dream's smile twisted as she fought against laughter. "We'll see," she said.

Much to Dream's and Rockman's surprise Maki kept her promise, and waited patiently until Enzan woke up next. However that was only in 20 minutes. Laika woke up five minutes later and Maki chose then to pounce on Netto.

"Wake up!" she said happily.

Netto groaned and tried to be one with the couch. Maki tried her best to wake him up by rocking him back and forth. "Netto-chan!" she said.

Laika and Enzan both got coffee before Netto woke up. They knew what he was like in the morning when he woke up on his own accord, when he was awakened at 8 in the morning, who wanted to know?

"Go away…" Netto muttered.

/Netto-kun…/ Rockman said.

/You go away too/ Netto muttered at him as well.

/Awww, come on, it's a beautiful day. Come out and smell the roses/ Rockman said.

/It's July, there are no roses/ Netto muttered.

/Netto-kun/ Rockman sighed.

Maki shook Netto's shoulder insistently. "Come on, Netto-chan! Let's go play."

"Go play with Enzan and Laika," Netto muttered.

/Netto-kun, that might not be a very good idea…/ Rockman said.

Netto groaned and pulled his head out from under the pillow. "Fine," he said. "I'm up."

"Yay!" Maki yelled and threw her hands in the air then she latched on to Netto. "Let's play," she said.

Netto opened his mouth to answer, but then his PET rang. He picked it up and opened the screen where Mejin's face came up. "Good morning, Netto-kun, I'm surprised you're up."

"Not my fault," Netto muttered.

"Netto-kun, we found where the artifact was taken. Can you, Laika and Enzan go there and check it out?" Mejin asked.

Netto became very serious. "Yes, Mejin-san," he said.

Mejin nodded and the screen went blank. "Well, you heard him," Netto said to Rockman.

"Can I…" Maki started.

"No!" Netto, Rockman and Blues and Searchman who were listening yelled at her.

"Fine, sheesh," she said crossing her arms.

Netto sighed, "Blues, Searchman, can you tell Enzan and Laika what Mejin-san just told me. I need to take Maki-chan home."

Blues and Searchman nodded and Netto took his cousin's hand. "Come on, time to go," he said.

"Awww…" Maki said in a heartfelt whine.

"You can't come, not this time. And I'm making sure you're with mama before I go," Netto said.

"Netto-kun, we have to coordinates on out PET," Rockman said.

"E-mail them to Enzan and tell them we'll catch up," Netto said.

Rockman nodded and Netto walked Maki home.

Netto dropped Maki off at his house and made sure she was with his mother and making breakfast before he left. Unbeknownst to him and Rockman however she had Dream jack into his PET and hide herself, no way Netto was getting away that easily.

Netto ran out of his house calling a hasty goodbye to his family and proceeded to rollerblade to where Mejin told them to go. He met up with Laika and Enzan outside of the location. It was a rather large and seedy looking building that was isolated from the rest of the city by a huge fence.

"Good place to hide stolen goods," Laika said.

"Think we've been seen?" Enzan asked.

Rockman shook his head, "There is no security equipment out here. They have no way of tracking us."

"All right, we'll go in, just be careful," Enzan said.

Laika and Netto nodded and they all walked into the foreboding building. There was nothing that jumped out and screamed 'criminal mastermind' when they went inside. Just an empty building that probably should have been condemned long ago but wasn't for tax reasons. There were some blinking computers in the far off corners but nothing fancy. Just everyday desktops, Netto's home computer was more high-tech then those were.

"Stay on guard," Enzan hissed.

There was a loud click and bright light flooded into the room. Then there was a sound of applause, the threesome looked up to see Obsidian standing on what seemed to be thin air clapping.

"Ah… you finally came," she said. "And not a moment too soon, we are so looking forward to your visit." She glanced at Netto and Rockman, "Especially the Hikari twins."

Netto unknowingly took a step back. "Call Mejin," Netto said.

Obsidian disappeared and reappeared in front of Netto in a flash. "Oh, no need, sweetie. We've already got everything all set." She snapped her fingers and a dimensional area appeared around the building.

Netto jumped back and Enzan and Laika quickly took out their Syncro Chips. Dream slipped out of Netto's PET before he cross fused with Rockman but found she was trapped inside the dimensional area as well. The barrier was around the real world and the cyber world.

The three boys cross fused and Laika was the first one to launch himself at Obsidian. She easily countered his attack and sent a black arrow flying at him that he barely managed to dodge.

"We have you outnumbered!" Enzan yelled.

"Oh?" Obsidian asked. There was a brief flash of movement behind her and Nova appeared his white costume a stark contrast to her black.

"Hello love," he whispered. "May I join you?"

"It would be my honor," she purred back and Nova sent a shining ball of light at Enzan.

It missed him but the shockwave of the attack still managed to knock him to his feet after he hit the ground.

Netto summoned a Paladin Sword and sent the shockwave attack flying at the two. They were forced to separate and they landed on opposite sides of the room. Obsidian laughed and threw a dark ball of energy at Laika who managed to dodge but like Enzan was caught in the shockwave.

"Elec Sword!" Enzan yelled and ran at Nova as the sword appeared on his hand. Nova smirked and dodged but was caught as Laika sniped him down.

Netto yelled out, "Aqua tower!" and sent the jet of water at the felled Nova who only managed to dodge because Obsidian helped him out of the way.

"Tut tut, and we were just here to invite you to a party," Obsidian said. "How rude."

"Where is the artifact you took from the museum?" Enzan yelled.

"En route to Japan on a luxury cruise liner as we speak," Nova smirked.

"What?" Laika gasped.

"What interest would we have in some old stone?" Obsidian laughed. "We wanted the replicas, oops!" she smiled putting a hand to her lips, "My dear, I'm afraid I've said too much," she said in a fake sugary voice.

"Ah, do not worry my love, it is all right. The master won't mind if his guests have a small teaser of what's to come," Nova crooned.

"What do you want with us?" Laika yelled.

"You'll find out, won't you?" Nova said throwing his attack at Laika who now knew the timing and dodged it with ease.

Enzan, Laika and Netto landed by each other across from Obsidian and Nova. "You're still out numbered!" Netto yelled.

Enzan and Laika nodded as if to back up his statement and launched themselves at Obsidian and Nova. Enzan summoned another sword and thrust it at Nova. Nova dodged but a twin blade on Enzan's other hand caught him in the side. He cried out as he fell and Laika quickly brought up his gun.

Netto stood there holding his charged buster to Laika's chest.

"N-netto?" Laika gasped.

"I…I can't control my body…" Netto said. "Something's wrong…"

Obsidian laughed. "Come now, you actually forgot we hacked into your friends files?" Her voice became sharp. "The link is a double edged sword kid; you're not immune to computer viruses or control programs."

Nova stood up showing no damage that he supposedly took from Enzan. "Now who's outnumbered?" he asked coolly.

Laika looked at the glowing buster that Netto was pointing at him. Then he looked at Netto who looked petrified to the point that even though Laika was being held at buster-point he actually felt very sorry for Netto. "Why are you doing this?" he hissed.

"To get your attention," Obsidian said silkily.

"What do you want?" Enzan asked.

"Oh, for starters I want you two to cancel cross fusion," Nova said.

Enzan and Laika exchanged worried glances then did as they were told. Nova smirked then Netto felt himself exiting cross fusion as well. He collapsed onto his knees taking in shaky breaths. Enzan and Laika went over to him and helped him to his feet.

"I wouldn't get to close to him if I were you," Nova said with a smirk.

Enzan glared at him, "You can't control a human!" he yelled.

Obsidian laughed and laughed. "Who said he was human?" she said.

/Netto-kun, don't listen to them, they're just trying to throw you off/ Rockman said.

/I know/ Netto replied.

/Are you okay/ Rockman asked.

Netto nodded, then realized the question was mental. /I'm fine, Rockman./ His gaze narrowed/I'm perfectly fine/ he said standing up and pushing Laika and Enzan away.

Enzan and Laika were almost in shock, they weren't sure what to believe or for that matter what Netto was doing. Netto picked up his PET and pocketed it. "I won't believe in your mind games!" he yelled.

Nova chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really care what you believe," he said.

Netto started to get rid of the terror he felt before and only hot anger remained. He clenched his fists until they shook. Enzan saw this and put a hand on Netto's shoulder. "Netto, calm down," he murmured in Netto's ear.

Netto calmed down but only slightly.

"Besides what makes you kids think that you could beat us?" Obsidian said 'us' like she was saying they were against an army. "You brats had no chance against us from the beginning and now you have even less of a chance. But, in the end you had to figure out that for yourselves," she smirked. "So, now that all fighting and whatnot is out of the way will you kindly please follow us?" she made it sound like a suggestion even though it wasn't.

"We're not following you anywhere," Netto hissed.

"Of course you will," Nova smiled. "Because you have no choice," he said with a hard look in his eyes.

Netto, Laika and Enzan watched as they turned around and walked away. The threesome stayed where they were and watched the retreating backs of the navis. Netto reached his breaking point and he dashed at Nova as fast as he could. "Netto, don't!" Laika yelled.

Nova turned around as Netto was bringing up his fist. "Stop," he said and Netto found himself frozen in mid stance, unable to move. "So much for your little theory about not being able to control humans," he smirked. "Or maybe it's because you aren't quite what you think you are."

/Netto-kun/ Rockman whispered horrified.

/I…can't move/ Netto said.

Nova nodded and Netto felt his body relax. Enzan and Laika ran to where he was and did their best to silently comfort their friend. Obsidian smirked and glided over to where they were. "I don't think you truly realize what you got yourself into when you accepted the burden of the Saito.bat files," she said. "Don't worry, the man we're going to will spell it out."

"We're not going anywhere!" Enzan said. "Come on," he said to Netto and Laika. "We're getting out of here."

Nova didn't say anything about Enzan's little speech. Instead he turned around and said, "Follow me."

Enzan and Laika glared at him and were very surprised when Netto started to follow the white clad navi. "Netto, what are you doing?" Laika hissed.

"I can't help it, or did you not notice what has been going on for the past five minutes," Netto hissed back.

Enzan and Laika didn't say anything but silently followed their friend.

"What are you doing?" Netto asked.

"Making sure you don't say anything stupid," Enzan said with the barest hint of a laugh.

Netto was quiet as they were led into a small elevator that went down. As soon as they left surface level the Dimensional Area disappeared from around the building and Dream was free. The first thing she did was fly home as fast as she could to tell Maki what happened.

The elevator led them to a large basement that had very little of anything except a large crate with the table sticking out of it and a table that was currently empty. Obsidian smiled and held up her hand. A curtain of black energy made it impossible to see anything and when it lifted Obsidian was standing in front of the boys holding up their PETs. "I think I'll borrow these for a few minutes," she said.

Netto dived at her but she disappeared and he nosedived into the cement. "Ow…" he said pushing himself up.

Nova stood there and laughed. "That was cute," he said. He received three death glares.

"What did you do with out navis?" Enzan asked.

"Oh don't worry, you'll see them soon," he smirked.

Before any of the three could retaliate there was the sound of clapping and a man in his mid thirties wearing sweatpants and a hoodie came into the room. He had glasses that were in front of cold brown eyes and straight brown hair that went to his earlobes. "Ah Nova, so glad you could make it. And you brought guests, well I'm not dressed for such a thing am I?" he said in an easy voice.

"Terribly sorry," Nova replied, smirking.

"Ah well, make do with what you have, right boys?" he asked flashing them a smile.

Enzan, Laika and Netto looked at the odd man who looked like more of a father then a net mafia boss. "Who are you?" Laika asked.

"Just a humble man with a few ambitions," he replied. "Now, I just woke up, care to join me in breakfast?" he motioned to the table. They didn't notice before but it had fruit and waffles on it and they watched as the man crossed the room and sat down.

"No thanks," Enzan said. "What did you do with our navis?"

He cut a piece of waffle and lifted it to his lips; he paused and put his fork down. "Ah, did Obsidian take them? Ah well, you'll see them soon. Don't worry about it."

Netto had just about as much of this man as he could handle. "Why the hell did you bring us here?" he yelled. "This isn't a game!"

The man took a bite of his food and chewed it thoughtfully. "No…" he said slowly, "I would say it isn't a game. Not much in real life is a game is it?"

Netto looked like he was ready to run over to where he was so Enzan and Laika both placed hand on his shoulders. "Remember what happened last time," Laika murmured.

Netto's glaze narrowed, but in a rare moment of common sense even though he was angry he stayed where he was.

"So," the man said wiping his lips with a paper napkin. "You're probably wondering why I called the three of you down here."

Enzan, Netto and Laika were all silent.

"Well, to tell you the truth I was only after Hikari and Rockman but seeing as you two don't really leave them alone, I felt I really had no choice," he said.

"What do you want with Netto?" Enzan said before Netto could say anything.

The man tapped the side of his nose in an annoying way. "Ah, well you see, there are quite a few reasons for that. But first, I want to tell you three that you made it very difficult to get my hands on this beauty," he said tapping the side of the crate.

"What do you want with an old rock?" Netto asked sullenly.

The man laughed loudly. "An old rock? My dear boy, if this was the real Rumanian Tablet it would be worth over $7.3 million."

OOOOOOOOOO

One more chapter :3333

I've also already written the last chapter so I know everything that will happen. Enjoy and for the I don't know… 50+ people I know that are reading this, mind reviewing at least once?


	12. The End

"It's not real?" Netto asked.

"That's what Obsidian said earlier," Enzan mused quietly.

"Nope, not real. Inside this stone that can't be penetrated by any X-ray, electromagnetic wave or any other surveillance equipment are two disks. These disks have information on every intelligence operation in every country in the world," he grinned. "I can sell this information to enemy countries and turn around and sell information to another country. Maybe I'll even be generous and sell the country its own information!" he laughed like it was a great joke.

"That would start a World War!" Enzan yelled.

The man shrugged, "So? I'll find a nice neutral country settle down, wait it out and spend all the money I make when it's over," he said.

"That's horrible," Laika hissed.

"So what? I don't care about the world; the world doesn't care about me. What on earth does it matter?"

"Millions of innocent lives," Netto said.

He looked at Netto, "Ah, how naive you are. Just like your father…" he said.

"Papa?" Netto asked. "How do you know…" Netto took another look at the man. He did look a little familiar.

"Which brings me to my next point," he said. "Hey Obsidian, done reprogramming yet?" he yelled.

"What?" Enzan asked.

"Oh, just a few re-writes. Nothing to be worried about," he smiled.

"What did you do…" Netto asked.

Before the man could say anything else, Obsidian came back into the room and she was followed by Blues, Searchman and Rockman. "She changed their programs," Enzan said.

/Rockman/ Netto called out but he received nothing but silence.

Obsidian smirked, "Oh that was entirely too easy. Navis are so easy to manipulate."

"What did you do?" Netto yelled.

"Just re-arranged a few things. Now they are entirely under my control " she said in an icy voice.

Netto narrowed his eyes but couldn't think of anything to say. Neither could Laika or Enzan.

The man walked over to Obsidian, "Good job," he said. Obsidian smiled at him sweetly then walked over to Nova. "Well?" he asked.

Obsidian yawned like it was all a huge bore. "Restrain them," she said in an almost bored voice.

Rockman was way too quick for Netto to follow and he felt his arms pinned behind his back and he didn't need to look around to know that the same thing happened to Enzan and Laika. Netto struggled but then he felt Rockman give his hand a squeeze, not unkind but more of a squeeze of assurance. Netto calmed down and hoped that Rockman was Rockman. /Will you answer/ he asked. There still was no reply so he figured he had to trust Rockman.

"You see?" the man asked. "Look how easy it is to manipulate a navi's programming. They're all slaves to it, as human like as we try to make them in the end we can just make them everything we want them to be."

"That's not true!" Netto yelled. "Navi's are sentient, and they feel just like any human."

"Well, if they're programmed to," he said. "Yes, yes they do feel. But there are humans that take away feelings or freedom. Why? Because they can. Because human like being in control and humans like knowing they hold the power over someone else. There is no such thing as a living net navi and there never will be. Why? Because humans are afraid and want the power for themselves."

Netto growled but he felt a small squeeze that made him calm down.

"Humans don't like the idea of navi's getting too smart or they'll rise up and take over? They're obviously more powerful then us and they can destroy the world if they want to," he said ignoring the increasing temper of the three boys. "Navi's have power, humans have more, that's the natural way of things," he said. "Which brings me to your and your older brother," he turned a hard gaze onto Netto and Rockman.

"What do you care?" he asked.

"I said I wanted you here for a reason. You know why? Revenge," he gave them a toothy grin. "You see, you two are that," he spat out the word 'that' like it was poison, "man's greatest work."

"Who are you talking about?" Laika asked.

"Yuuichiro Hikari of course, that damned man took everything from me. My glory, my funding, my sister…" he drifted off.

"Sister?" Enzan asked and gave Netto an incredulous look.

Something finally clicked on in Netto's head. "Uncle Jiro!" he gasped.

"Who?" Enzan and Laika asked together.

"He's mama's brother and Aunt Sakura's ex. They divorced about 5 months after Maki-chan was born, I was about 6 at the time," he said.

"How right you are," Jiro said. "You see, your mother and I went to one of the best technological colleges in Japan. I was one of the fastest rising scientists then your father came. Oh how perfect he was, he did everything right and showed me up every time we finished a project. Finally all the funding that went into my projects went into his and just as I hit rock bottom, he proposed to my sister. And you know what? She accepted! Ha! Just like that, and after that I left college. I do admit I hit a few rough spots but now I got it made! And no one can stop me anymore."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"M-maki-chan!" Dream yelled.

"What?" Maki asked. "What happened?"

"Ne-netto-chan and Rockman… they're in trouble…" she gasped out.

"What?" Haruka quickly ran over to where the small navi was about to collapse on the net floor from exhaustion. "What happened to Netto?" she asked.

"Papa said that you tried to experiment with human DNA and that's why you're funding was taken away…" Netto said who remembered being told this when he was younger.

"And your father is a hypocrite too," he smirked. "After his precious 'Saito' died he turned around and broke about every law of nature there was. Took DNA, made it into data and created a navi out of it. Amazing," he said shaking his head. Netto felt Rockman's grip tighten in what seemed like anger. "Then, after all that, when he was in danger of being taken away again, you actually re-synced your DNA!"

"I chose that on my own!" Netto yelled.

"A 12 year old boy decided something that would change his genetic structure forever…" Jiro laughed. "Do you have the slightest idea what you did?" he asked.

Netto paused and Nova and Obsidian smirked. "I don't care, as long as nii-san is alive," he said.

Jiro laughed. "Right, so you think you chose right?"

"I know I did!" Netto yelled.

"So stubborn, like my sister," he gave a soft smile as if remembering something nice. "Ah well," he said.

"Why are you so bent on revenge, it's not Netto's fault, I'm not even sure it's Hikari Hakase's fault," Laika said. "Why?"

"Because, that's why."

"You sound like your daughter," Enzan said.

He paused, then his eyes became cold and sharp. "Don't you ever mention my daughter like that again!" he yelled.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mejin pulled up with WWW, Sakura, Maki and Haruka. Manabe and Kifune came behind in a second car. Manabe read something off of her handheld. "There is an underground dimensional area," she said. "About 10 feet down."

"Then let's destroy it," Mejin said. He pulled out a lap top and pulled up the dimensional area program on his computer.

Manabe nodded and three net officials plugged in their navi's.

"Find the source and destroy it!" Kifune said and the men started to scan the area with their PET's.

"I have found it sir," one man said after five minutes.

Mejin scanned the program for any viruses or traps. When it came up clear he gave Manabe an okay signal.

"Fire at will," she said.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Well kids," Jiro smiled. "It's been fun and I'm glad you were here to listen to my whole sob story but I think I'm going to move on now." Obsidian and Nova appeared in front of the threesome. Netto felt Rockman's grip increase but Netto could tell because he was nervous. He may not have been under the program control like Searchman and Blues but he could still be controlled, just as easily if not more so then Netto.

Before anything could happen though, the navis just disappeared. Or rather, they digitized and when Netto looked at his PET Rockman was there giving him a relieved smile.

Jiro looked horrified and looked around wildly only to find his perfect plan crumbling around him. Before anyone else could react he ran over to the crates grabbed the stone and ran to the elevator shoving Enzan out of the way with the huge rock. When the elevator opened though there was Manabe and three police officers waiting with her.

"Oh thank god," Netto said.

Enzan smiled weakly, "That was… interesting."

"I think what you are looking for is 'disturbing as hell,'" Netto said. "I can't believe that was Jiro…"

"Did you know him well?" Enzan asked as they went to the elevator where Mejin was waiting for them.

"No… not really," Netto replied. "Wait, what about Obsidian and Nova?"

"Don't worry," Mejin said as the doors opened again. "They were caught as they came back into the net."

Enzan, Netto and Laika all let out huge sighs of relief. "Wow… we really didn't save the day this time…" Netto said slowly.

Mejin laughed and clapped Netto on the shoulder. "Us adults have to do our job every once in awhile too you know."

Before Netto could answer he was trapped in a bear hug by his mother. "Oh my god, I was so worried when Dream came in and said…" she couldn't finish her sentence. Instead she hugged Netto even tighter and didn't let go.

"Jiro!" They all heard a voice snap and they turned to see Sakura looking at her ex husband with Maki clutching her mother's skirt.

"You just got lucky this time," he hissed at his wife.

"Daddy?" Maki asked and Jiro's gaze rested on her, softened and she gave his daughter a weak smile.

"Daddy's going away for awhile, honey," Sakura said while not taking her eyes off her husband.

"That's right sweetie, daddy won't see you for awhile," he said in a kind voice.

"Come on," Sakura said in a low voice and led Maki away before they could watch him be led into the police car. Maki was unusually quiet as they walked over to where Haruka was still holding Netto.

"Netto-chan?" Maki asked as Netto finally freed himself from his mom.

"Yes?" Netto said a little breathlessly.

Maki ran up and hugged him around his waist. Netto stood there, a little stunned then awkwardly patted her on the head. Then Sakura hugged her nephew. "I'm so sorry for what Jiro did," she said softly.

"It's all right," Netto tried to smile at her but he was stuck.

Enzan and Laika were about to walk away when Haruka placed her hands on their shoulders. "Are you boys okay?" she asked.

They looked at each other. "We're fine," they said.

Haruka smiled and did what everyone was expecting the least. She embraced Laika and Enzan in a tight hug. They were both so stunned neither one knew what to do. Haruka sighed, "You know, maybe you three should leave some stuff up to the adults every once in awhile."

"Mejin sent us!" Netto said in defense.

"Actually I didn't," Mejin said. "That was a trap."

"I was wondering why you didn't say, 'no need for the 'san''", Rockman mused.

"Well its over," Netto said huffily.

Haruka let out a breath and released Enzan and Laika who stood there looking a bit dazed. "Yes, it is," she said.

Mejin smiled, "Well, you three are off the hook for now. Enjoy your summer vacation, Netto."

"Yes sir!" Netto said happily. He was already planning on how late he would sleep in the next morning.

"Well, let's go home," Haruka said rubbing her head.

"Well then, I think I'll leave," Enzan said.

"No, actually, would you boys care to join us for dinner?" she asked.

Enzan and Laika looked at one another, "Sure?" he asked Laika.

Laika nodded, "Sounds good," he said.

Haruka smiled and started planning the dinner she was going to make in her head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Back at Netto's house they were all sitting around the dinner table eating the large curry dinner Haruka had made. Sakura seemed to be having a hard time eating and Maki was quieter then usual but all in all it wasn't bad.

"I am sooooo glad that's over with," Netto sighed.

"Are you all right, Netto-san?" Blues asked.

Netto made a face, "I'm fine," he said.

Enzan and Laika looked at him but decided they would wait until later to ask him what was wrong.

The food was hot and delicious but the meal was spent mostly in silence. When it was done they went into the living room and, Netto, Enzan and Laika went to Netto's bedroom not long after that.

Enzan shut the door and Netto flopped on his bed. "You okay?" Rockman asked.

Netto stuck his tongue out and made a face. "I don't know," he sighed.

"What's wrong?" Enzan asked.

"Well, remember when Nova and Obsidian implied that I wasn't completely human?" Netto asked carefully.

"Yes," Laika and Enzan said slowly.

"Do you think that's true?" Netto asked.

Enzan and Laika exchanged glances. They both had no idea how to answer that.

Rockman sighed, "Netto-kun, you know how I have more powerful emotions and my programs are more complicated then other navi's?"

"Yes," Netto answered.

"Maybe," Rockman paused thinking of what to say. "Maybe it's a two way thing. Maybe you have some… other abilities because of the Saito.bat files. Least of which is being able to synch with my thoughts and apparently be controlled if we're hacked into."

"So, the answer is yes?" Netto asked.

Rockman looked up at nothing. "I… guess…"

"Maybe you should ask your father," Enzan said.

"Nah," Netto said picking himself up. "I think Rockman and I can figure this out on our own."

"Are you two going to be okay?" Laika asked.

Netto smiled and winked, "Of course!" he said in a bright voice.

Laika and Enzan gave him small smiles and they went down stairs. Maki was asleep in her mother's lap and Sakura was stroking her hair. "Oh, this is all so… difficult," she said. "I just don't know how to handle it."

Haruka smiled and patted her hand. "It's all right. Everything will be fine," she smiled.

"I…don't know what to do anymore…" Sakura said.

"You know what," Haruka said. "Maybe you should stay a little longer."

Netto froze in mid step on the way downstairs.

"Oh, Haruka, I… I couldn't."

"Sakura, you are in no condition to raise a child and you need time to overcome this…" she paused. "Shock."

"But…" Sakura protested.

"Please, I insist."

"But Maki will start school soon," Sakura said.

"You live only fifteen miles away from here. The only reason you don't visit is because you are so tired. You need to rest," Haruka gave her a warm smile.

Sakura smiled shakily back.

/Oh no/ Netto said.

/What's wrong/ Rockman asked.

/If Maki-chan stays…/ Netto let his mental voice trail off.

"Well, if you think it won't be too much trouble," Sakura smiled.

"Of course it won't!" Haruka said.

Maki moved a tiny bit and a smile creeped over her lips.

"I… need to think about it, but…" Sakura trailed off.

"You're welcome to stay at any time," Haruka said.

Enzan and Laika looked at Netto who was resisting the urge to hit his head against something. Not that he didn't love Maki-chan but…

And Maki was pretending to be asleep in her mother's lap listening to everything that was going on above her.

"Mama, we're going outside for a little bit," Netto said quickly.

"All right," Haruka said. "Be back before dark."

Netto, Enzan and Laika went outside and crossed the street into the park. "Oh man," Netto said. "Maki-chan during the school year?"

"Don't worry, after today it should be a piece of cake," Rockman said.

"Rockman…" Netto said. "I don't think taking care of Maki-chan is a piece of cake."

"Well, we'll be there to help," Enzan said.

Netto looked and Enzan and Laika. "You will?" he asked.

Laika cleared his throat, "What else are friends for," he said with the faintest hint of a blush.

Netto gave them a big grin. "Thanks," he said with relief.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Back inside Haruka and Sakura were planning on how to get Maki to and from school while Maki started to drift off back to sleep. She held her new PET tightly in her hands and started to dream about being a super hero, just like Netto-chan.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

That's it people. The end, fini, owari. Now before you all bombard me with PM's and reviews lets spell out a few things,

YES, there will be a sequel. NO, it won't be soon. Coming up with good plots is hard and I need a break. I'll give you nice cuddly one shots to tide you over so don't worry. I have one planned right now. So, I know this isn't the review crazy fic like some of my others are but it gets a lot of hits so, tell me, good, bad? Horrible, or suggestions, questions, anything from you guys? Feel free to ask :3


End file.
